


Trapped Under Your Spell

by mariawritesstuff



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 03:41:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 26,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3366413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariawritesstuff/pseuds/mariawritesstuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Calum opens his eyes and grins. From where he is, he can see Luke smiling down at him. The sun is shining from behind Luke’s head and from Calum’s position it kind of looks like Luke himself is the sun. Calum is momentarily stunned.</i>
</p><p> </p><p>Or, A Hogwarts Cake AU where the boys are the boys and feelings are caught/have been there all along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll start with the usual - I own nothing and nobody, this is a fictitious piece of writing, Hogwarts is not mine (sadly), all the staff are made up by myself. I do not claim to know the boys of 5 Seconds of Summer, nor what goes on in their lives.
> 
> Now that that's out of the way let's talk. As with most (all) of my fics, I don't know why this happened. You know how a random thought just pops into your head and then you can't get rid of it for days/weeks? Well, that's pretty much why this fic is in existence.
> 
> First of all, I'd like to thank Chris for spending god knows how long discussing what house each of 5sos would be sorted into with me. Which kind of shaped this fic. Next I'd like to thank Afton and Tara for beta'ing this stupid long thing and picking out all my dumb mistakes (pulling all-nighters for fic writing isn't always the best idea). Also, thanks to Steph and Sarah and Meredith and all the rest of #cakesquad for being so wonderfully pained by Cake with me because if I didn't have them to fuel my perpetual sadness caused by these dumb (married) boys, I probably would have lost the motivation to finish this, as has happened with every other cake fic I've written prior to this one. And thanks to anybody else who contributed to this in some way, I'm really sorry if I've missed you out but just know that I love you very much and I'm extremely grateful for your help.
> 
> Okay! So. Let's get this show on the road!

11-year-old Calum Hood was sat atop his fully-packed trunk as he watched his best friend, Michael Clifford (also 11 years old) run around his bedroom, slipping the pranks and games his mum had specifically told him he couldn’t take to school into obscure parts of his own trunk.

“Your mum’s gonna kill you if she finds out,” Calum giggled.

“Well she’s not gonna find out,” Michael grinned mischievously. “I found this masking spell, so I just need to put it on all the stuff I don't want her to know about and bingo! We’re clear.”

Calum’s eyes widened.

“You’re gonna do magic outside of school? Isn’t that illegal?”

“Not if we don't get caught.”

“We?” Calum questioned.

“Well duh.” Michael rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna do it on my own.”

“Fine.” Calum acquiesced. He had never needed much persuasion when it came to Michael’s trouble-making schemes anyway, liked the thrill of it. He hopped off his trunk and made his way over to Michael’s. “So what do we do?”

“We just have to recite the words: Merlin’s staff, Morgana’s dribble, make this object invisible!”

“That sounds dumb,” Calum giggled.

“Hey!” Michael protested. “I saw a video on WizTube and it worked!”

“If you say so,” Calum shrugged. “Let’s do it quick.”

Michael reached into his trunk and pulled out a screaming yoyo, placing it on the floor. Both boys pulled out their brand new wands and pointed them at the yoyo.

“Ready?” Michael asked. Calum nodded excitedly. “3, 2, 1!”

_Merlin’s staff, Morgana’s dribble,_

_Make this object invisible!_

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the yoyo began to shake, smoke rising as it emitted a hissing sound.

“Shoot!” Michael cried as both boys ducked behind the bed. The piercing scream of the yoyo rang loud around the room and the boys pressed their hands to their ears. 

Eventually the screaming and hissing stopped, and Calum peeked out to see if the spell had worked. Crawling over, he reached out for the yoyo but it wasn’t there. Where it had been was a yoyo-sized burn mark in the blue carpet.

“Did it work?” Michael asked.

“Uh…you should probably come see.” Calum pulled a face. Michael crawled over until he was next to Calum.

“What!” he shrieked. “Where is it?” He pressed his palm to the mark, only to retract it immediately, yelping as it scalded his pale skin. “That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said dully.

“No, really?” Calum teased. Michael pulled a face and opened his mouth to retort when they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The boys froze for a second, before quickly scrambling to their feet, Calum placing his foot over the hot mark, wincing at the pain as both boys stood side by side, waiting for the door to open.

When it did, they were greeted with the sight of Calum’s 16-year-old sister, Mali-Koa, frowning down at them.

“What have you little poltergeists done now?” she growled.

“Nothing,” Calum smiled innocently.

“Right. Which is why you’re both stood right in front of the door.”

“We heard you coming up so we wanted to make this easier for you,” Michael’s smile was an exact replica of Calum’s. Mali-Koa rolled her eyes.

“What was all that noise?”

“What noise?”

“You know what noise.”

“What noise?”

“Ugh!” she groaned frustratedly. “You kids are so annoying. I swear to Merlin I’m never letting mum make me check on you again.” She turned around and slammed the door shut behind her, stomping loudly down the stairs.

Calum and Michael remained frozen in their positions for a couple of seconds, before turning to each other, making eye contact and bursting into laughter.

Before they knew it, they were both on the floor, limbs tangled and stomachs hurting as they tried to calm themselves down. When their laughter finally subsided, Michael turned to Calum.

“Promise me we’ll still be friends?”

“Of course we’ll be friends. Don't be stupid.”

“No, I mean even if we’re not in the same house.”

Calum paused. He hadn’t thought about that. The thought of not being with Michael 24/7 was so foreign to him. They had been sleeping over at each other’s houses every night since they were 6. That was five years of tradition that Calum wasn’t ready to break.

“We’ll be in the same house,” he replied.

“Yeah, but what if we aren’t?”

“We will be,” Calum assured. “We like all the same things, there’s no way we’ll be in different houses.”

“Fine,” Michael accepted. And that was that. But Calum suddenly found himself nervous about the actual importance of the events to come that day.

* * * 

A couple of hours later, they were at King’s Cross Station and Calum could hear his heart in his ears. His dad was pushing his trolley for him so his hands were free, unlike Michael who was holding on very tightly to his kitten, Mandy. Calum wished he had a pet to hold on to, but his parents wouldn’t let him get a crup like he had been begging for since he could remember. He didn’t even get the family owl – that was given to Mali-Koa when she was first starting at Hogwarts.

“Okay, this is it,” Calum’s mother, Joy, announced, bringing Mali-Koa’s trolley to stop in front of the daunting platform nine and three quarters barrier. “Mali, you first.” 

Mali-Koa stepped forward and took control of her trolley.

“Good luck, little troll,” she grinned down at Calum, ruffling his hair. She headed towards the barrier, steadily picking up her pace before disappearing through the red bricks. Calum stared at the place where she had been and then suddenly wasn’t. He’d seen her do it every other year, but now was the first time he actually had to worry about bashing his head in.

“Lovely. Calum?”

Calum froze in his place. Michael nudged him gently.

“Scared?” he teased lightly, although Calum could see the nervousness in his best friend’s eyes.

“Hardly,” he retorted, knowing Michael could tell he was bluffing. He put on his most challenging grin. “See you on the other side.”

He took over his trolley from his dad and aligned himself in front of the looming barrier.

“Don’t worry, bud, your mother and I will be right there after you,” his dad reassured. Calum rolled his eyes, pretending not to care when all he really wanted to do was hug them and make them carry him through.

Taking a deep breath, he began pushing his trolley, closer and closer, picking up speed just like he’d seen Mali do a million times before. As the solid barrier approached, he squeezed his eyes shut and waited for impact – but it never came. 

Opening his eyes, he looked around and his jaw dropped in awe as he took in the magical side if the barrier. The platform was cramped with people, families escorting terrified first-years onto the train, old friends reuniting and catching up on everything they’d missed; Calum was overwhelmed.

Fortunately, barely ten seconds had passed before he felt his parents’ reassuring hands on his shoulders and he relaxed into their touch.

“Shall we?” his dad suggested.

“Nuh, we have to wait for Michael.”

Right on cue, the other boy appeared with his parents in tow. The two exchanged a relieved grin as their parents ushered them towards the nearest carriage.

After all the hugs and goodbyes and don't-forget-to-write’s, Calum and Michael were finally sat in a compartment to themselves with their trunks safely stowed as the train began to pull out.

“Where’s Mandy?” Calum asked, suddenly noticing the absence of the kitten. Michael’s eyes grew wide.

“Shoot!” In a flash he was out of the compartment and dashing along the corridor, leaving Calum on his own and slightly stunned, watching the doorway. Not long later, Mali-Koa walked past in her robes, on her way to the prefects’ cabin with a blonde boy that was probably her age in tow. As she noticed Calum, she made a playful face at him and he reciprocated. The blonde boy looked over and smiled before continuing with Mali. 

Trailing slightly behind them was another blonde boy, except this one was younger, probably a first year as well. He smiled shyly at Calum, who simply nodded in return, not willing to betray Michael. The boy continued and Calum turned to watch the changing landscape.

A few minutes later, he heard the compartment door slide open as Michael re-entered.

“Found her?” Calum asked.

“Yeah,” Michael breathed, holding up the tabby kitten. “Some idiot kid had her and was playing with her.”

“Well, it’s not their fault you lost her,” Calum teased.

“I didn’t lose her,” Michael defended. “She was following me behind when I was pulling my trunk. That kid must’ve snatched her.”

“Yeah, sure,” Calum grinned disbelievingly. Michael was about to argue when they heard the much-anticipated call of,

“Anything from the trolley?”

Within no time, they had both whipped out their small pouches of sickles and a few galleons that their parents had given them for the journey.

“Ready?”

“Oh, yeah!” 

* * *

The trip had lasted shorter than Calum had thought and soon he found himself stood in the Great Hall amongst a throng of other first years, gripping tightly onto the sleeve of Michael’s robe, for fear of losing him in the crowd.

There was a professor at the front of the hall, whose name Calum hadn’t heard because the only thing he could hear was the blood coursing through his head. She was a regal figure, dressed in jet-black robes and the pointiest hat Calum had ever seen. Next to her was a wooden stool and on it sat the infamous Sorting Hat. Calum’s eyes were glued to the hat and he wouldn’t have realized that sorting had begun had Michael not tugged on his sleeve and indicated the now unrolled scroll in the professor’s hand.

“Bella Abdul.”

The hall was deathly silent as the first of the new students stepped away from the pack and climbed up the steps and slowly lowered herself onto the stool, frightened expression on her gentle face. The professor placed the hat onto the girl’s head and every breath in the room seemed to be held until the hat boomed,

“Gryffindor!”

The table on the far left of the hall erupted into deafening cheers as the girl beamed and all but ran over to meet her new housemates, who welcomed her with open arms. Calum glanced over at Michael and they exchanged nervous looks. The Sorting Ceremony carried on.

Calum barely heard any of the next sortings, too wrapped up in his head to focus. That was, until he heard the call of,

“Michael Clifford.”

Calum tensed and gripped Michael’s wrist tightly. The other boy turned to him with a look of terror in his green eyes.

“Michael Clifford?” the professor repeated irritably.

“Go,” Calum whispered. Michael nodded and looked down at where Calum was still clutching his wrist. Calum quickly withdrew his hand and Michael smiled briefly before squeezing his way through the crowd.

Calum held his breath as he watched the hat come down on his best friend’s head. It was silent for a while before roaring,

“Slytherin!”

The students at the table positioned centre-right leapt to their feet and whooped as Michael ran towards them, beaming at Calum as he went by. Calum smiled and watched as the older students clapped Michael on the back and pulled him into hugs.

“Hi.”

Calum’s head whipped round as he heard the quiet whisper by his shoulder.

“You’re the boy from the train,” Calum remarked as he took in the small blonde boy next to him. The boy’s eyebrows rose but he smiled.

“Yeah, I am. I’m Luke,” he held out his hand to Calum, who smiled and shook it.

“Calum,” he replied.

“This is kinda scary, isn’t it?” Luke turned to face the sorting.

“Yeah,” Calum agreed. “Especially with everyone watching you. I mean, what if your house doesn’t want you?”

Luke nodded.

“But my brother says he’s never seen anyone be rejected by their house. And he’s been here for five years so I guess he should know.”

“Yeah, but there’s a first time for everything.” Calum argued. “That’s what my sister always says.”

Luke gave Calum a funny look and opened his mouth to reply but then shut it again.

“Okay,” was all he said. Calum noticed the paleness in Luke’s face and suddenly felt bad for putting so much doubt in the boy’s mind.

“But it probably won’t be,” he backtracked. “Unless you’re a mean person I don't think they’d put you in a house with mean people.”

Luke turned to him and began to smile until they heard the words,

“Luke Hemmings.”

Luke’s breath hitched and he nodded once at Calum before walking away from him, towards the stool. His sorting seemed to take slightly longer than most, but in the end he was sorted into Hufflepuff and smiled shyly, a skip in his step as he made his way to the excited table on the far right.

Calum barely had time to be happy for his new potential friend before he was being called.

“Calum Hood.”

The dark-haired boy swallowed nervously and hurried to the front, eager to hopefully re-join Michael.

As the hat came down on his head, Calum met Michael’s gaze and smiled before squeezing his eyes shut and longingly imagining running over to where his friend was sat. His thoughts were filled with Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin, although for a brief moment he thought he wouldn’t mind being in Hufflepuff.

“No,” a voice in Calum’s head that didn’t belong to him caused him to jump. “You wouldn’t suit Hufflepuff. You’re much too…ambitious for that.”

Calum could practically feel the hat probing his mind. Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin, he begged.

“Slytherin? Ah, yes, much better. Although your constant desire and hunger for a challenge would make you a great candidate for Gryffindor. I can see it now.”

Calum squeezed his eyes even tighter and thought as loudly as he could. SLYTHERIN, SLYTHERIN, SLYTHERIN.

“Hm, I see. Well if you’re sure…”

“SLYTHERIN!”

Calum wasn’t sure whether the bellow had been in his head, but a glance over at Michael beaming and clapping excitedly along with the other Slytherins was enough to convince him to let out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding. Leaping off the stool, he quickly scanned the hall, catching Luke’s gaze. The latter smiled and raised his applauding hands towards Calum, who grinned before running to join Michael, his heartbeat audible in his ears. 

* * *

“Where’re we going?” Michael grumbled, following Calum through the castle corridors.

“I told you already, we’re going to the lake!”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Because it’s _nice_ ,” Calum repeated frustratedly. “It’s September, so it’s not gonna be this nice and sunny for much longer. Now come on!”

Michael groaned as they cut onto the grass and trudged towards the lake.

It had been four days since the sorting and Calum had realised that they really hadn’t needed to be that scared. Teachers were pretty understanding if you showed up to class late because you’d gotten lost and everyone in the Slytherin dungeon treated them like they belonged there. And in no time at all, Calum had already begun to feel like he did. He had already started making new friends, some of whom were in the older years. Michael wasn’t as lucky on the friendship front, but Calum knew that was because it took time for him to trust people, which was okay.

Calum kicked at the dry leaves on the ground and breathed in deeply, loving the feeling of the crisp autumn air. As he skipped, he noticed three figures sat at the base of the large tree next to the shore of the lake, one of whom he recognised.

“Hey, it’s Luke!” he exclaimed.

“Who?” Michael frowned.

“Luke,” Calum pointed at the boy in question. “He talked to me during the sorting, after you’d gone. He’s nice.”

Michael squinted.

“Hey! That’s the kid who had Mandy on the train! You can't be friends with him.”

“Shut up, Michael.” Calum rolled his eyes. “You weren’t very careful with Mandy. Just be glad someone picked her up and she wasn’t crushed by a trunk or something. Let’s go say hi.”

Michael huffed but followed anyway.

“Luke!” Calum called out, letting his weight pull him faster down the hill. The boy looked up and jumped to his feet, waving excitedly.

“Hey,” Calum grinned as he reached the three people.

“Hi,” Luke grinned. “Calum, this is my brother, Jack, and my cousin, Ashton. Guys, this is Calum.”

Calum turned and smiled at the other two blonde boys. One of them, Jack, he recognised as the one he saw with Mali-Koa on the train. He had a blue and bronze tie, like Calum knew Mali-Koa to have, and a prefect badge pinned to his robe. The other one, Ashton, he’d never seen before. He had short, curly, dark blonde hair and glasses. Around his neck, his red and gold tie hung loosely. He looked younger than Jack, but older than Luke.

“You’re Mali’s brother, yeah?” Jack asked. “Nice to meet you.”

Calum was about to reply when Ashton spoke up.

“You’re Mali’s brother? Holy shit, can you hook me up? Jack refuses to even though I’m his cousin. Traitor.”

“Why would I hook my baby cousin up with my best friend?” Jack laughed. “And no swearing!”

Ashton swore again before leaning back on the tree.

“This is my best friend, Michael,” Calum introduced, gesturing to the stone-faced boy beside him.

“Hi,” Luke smiled shyly. Michael nodded once in acknowledgement. “Sorry about your cat again.”

Michael grunted in response.

“Ignore him,” Calum rolled his eyes. “He’s always moody.” Michael thumped Calum’s arm for that and the three other boys laughed. Jack glanced at his watch.

“Well, I’ll leave you boys to it,” he announced, getting up. “I have a prefect meeting to attend. Ash, keep an eye?”

“Yes, sir,” Ashton joked with a giggle. Jack shook his head before saying goodbye and leaving the four younger boys.

“D’you guys wanna sit?” Ashton asked. Calum plopped down onto the soft grass, Michael following his lead. “So, Luke, is this the Calum you were telling me about?”

Calum looked inquisitively at Luke, who turned a bright pink.

“I told him I’d made a friend,” Luke explained. Calum smiled at that and turned to Ashton.

“Yeah, we’re friends! We met during the Sorting Ceremony.”

Ashton nodded.

“Slytherins, huh?”

“Yup!” Calum beamed and Michael held up his tie smugly. They had been taught to take pride in wearing the green and silver colours.

Ashton smirked at Luke.

“You sure do know how to pick ‘em.”

“Hey!” Michael called defensively. “What d’you mean by that?”

Ashton turned back to the pair.

“Luke’s Muggle-born,” he stated.

“Really?” Calum’s eyes widened. He had met half-bloods, but never any full muggle-borns. Luke nodded.

“Yup,” Ashton continued. “Our mothers are step-sisters and are both Muggles, but mine had a fling with a wizard, producing me, while Luke’s married a Muggle but still somehow ended up having three magical kids.”

“Okay,” Michael frowned. “But what does that have to do with us being Slytherins?”

“Some of the really, really old Slytherin families still resent muggle-borns, even after the second Wizarding War. There aren’t many of them left, but every year you get a few idiots coming in, thinking they’re the shit.”

“Jack said you shouldn’t swear,” Luke commented.

“Jack’s not gonna know, is he?” Ashton retorted. “Because if he does you can forget about me smuggling you candy from Hogsmeade.”

Luke scrunches up his nose but goes quiet.

“We aren’t like that,” Michael spoke up, going back to the previous topic of conversation. “We’re both from wizarding families but we aren’t like that, me and Calum.”

“Yeah,” Calum agreed solemnly. “We’d never think we’re better than anyone. I wasn’t even supposed to be in Slytherin. The hat almost put me in Gryffindor.”

“Aww, Gryffindor’s great!” Ashton proclaimed. “Why didn’t it?”

“Because I told it not to,” Calum admitted. “I was scared I wouldn’t have any friends.”

Ashton laughed.

“Did you get sorted first then, Michael?”

Michael nodded.

“But it almost put me in Hufflepuff. It changed it’s mind last second.”

“You would’ve been with me!”  Luke chirped and Michael grinned. Calum felt an unsettling curl in his stomach. He didn’t like the thought of them both being in Hufflepuff and without him. After all, he’d become friends with both of them first.

“Cheer up, pal,” Ashton nudged him with a wink. “You wouldn’t have liked Hufflepuff anyway. The hat knows what it’s doing.”

Calum smiled and relaxed, happy with the company he found himself in, happy with his new friends.

FOUR YEARS LATER

Four years later and Calum finds himself in the same spot, by the tree next to the lake, with the same people. Himself, Michael and Luke are in their 5th year, Ashton in his 7th and last.

Over the years, they’ve changed.

Calum has been the Slytherin seeker for three years now, going on four and is the newly appointed captain. Ashton is the local hipster prince, the epitome of ‘too cool for school’. Michael is the apparent bad boy that the majority of the student body doesn’t dare to mess with (although his three best friends know it’s all a bluff), with piercings and tattoos and brightly coloured hair that he somehow gets away with even though they’re technically against the rules. And Luke…Luke is the school’s poster boy, a prefect, just like his two older brothers, Hufflepuff seeker for the second year now, hard-working enough to maintain decent grades and good-looking enough to get away with just about anything. Not that he needs to pull that card out too often.

They’ve changed, but somehow don't seem to have changed at all. 

The friendship that they formed four years ago manages to withstand all the growing pains and the finding themselves and their place in Hogwarts and Calum is grateful for that. He has other friends, yeah, but none that understand him the way these three do.

“Oi! Cal!” Michael snaps Calum out of his reverie.

“Hm? Yeah, what?”

“Did you know about this party tonight?” Michael asks.

“The one in the dungeons?” Calum snorts. “Yeah, of course. Half the Slytherin quidditch team is involved in organising it.”

“Classic.” Ashton rolls his eyes.

“Just ‘cause you Gryffs can never throw a party without shit going down,” Calum shoots playfully.

“It isn’t a party if shit doesn’t go down!” Ashton retorts with a laugh.

“You know what isn’t a party?” Luke says with a mock-serious expression. “Detention. Which is where you’ll all end up if this doesn’t go smoothly.”

“You wouldn’t get us out, Mr Prefect?” Calum places a hand on his heart. “And here I was thinking the Puffs were loyal.”

“The number of times I’ll have to get you guys out of shit this year? Yeah, I don't wanna start this early.”

The three boys laugh.

“Don’t worry,” Calum reassures slyly, “We Slyths know how to make things go our way. Innit, Michael?”

“Hell the fuck yeah.”

“Speaking of hell,” Ashton pipes up. “Michael, d’you wanna come get it now?”

“What?” Michael frowns in confusion.

“You know,” Ashton pushes. “That thing you asked for?”

Michael stares perplexedly at Ashton before realisation dawns on him.

“Oh! Right, yeah, okay.” The two boys get up “Wait, how the fuck does that have anything to do with hell?”

“Well, I mean, I went through hell to get it in!”

Michael rolls his eyes.

“See you fucks later,” he says to the still seated boys before him and Ashton walk away bickering. Luke and Calum exchange a bemused look.

“What was that about?” Luke asks.

“No idea,” Calum shrugs. But Michael was always challenging Ashton to sneak stuff into the castle (mostly because he was too much of a wuss to do it himself) and Ashton, the typical Gryffindor, could never turn down the challenge.

Instead of worrying over it, Calum crawls over to Luke and nestles his head into the blonde boy’s lap. Luke chuckles and immediately begins stroking Calum’s hair, the actions already familiar to them.

“I have such a good feeling about this year,” Calum muses with his eyes closed. “You know?”

“Well, I do now, considering you’ve just told me.” Calum doesn’t need to open his eyes to know that Luke is smiling fondly.

“No, but I mean, can you feel it too?”

Luke is quiet for a moment.

“I guess. I mean we have OWLs this year so…”

“Ugh,” Calum groans. “ Let’s not talk about school. Like, ever.”

Luke laughs.

“Okay then. But apart from that thing that we’re not talking about, I guess so. I mean, I can't wait to kick your ass at quidditch in your first year as captain,” he teases.

“Ha!” Calum snorts loudly. “You’re so on, Hemmings. I swear it, the Cup is ours this year.”

“I distinctly remember you saying that last year. How’d that work out?”

“Okay, but that was different.”

“Oh, yeah?” Luke questions.

“Yup.” Calum pops his p. “Last year, Slytherin didn’t have yours truly as captain.”

“Wow, feeling modest, aren’t we?”

Calum opens his eyes and grins. From where he is, he can see Luke smiling down at him. The sun is shining from behind Luke’s head and from Calum’s position it kind of looks like Luke himself is the sun. Calum is momentarily stunned.

“What?” Luke asks. Calum realising he must’ve been staring.

“Oh, nothing. You’re an attractive lad, is all.” Calum smirks and winks up at Luke. “No wonder all the girls love you. And probably most of the guys too.”

Luke’s face turns bright red.

“Shut up, Cal,” he groans. Calum laughs.

“Now get your head out of the way, you’re blocking my sun and I’m trying to tan here.”

Luke raises an eyebrow.

“Please. Give it a week and you’ll be the tannest person in the castle, even if you spend all your time in that dingy Slytherin dungeon.”

“Did you just insult the dungeon?” Calum sits up, pretending to be offended.

“Maybe. I mean, you can't deny it’s murky as fuck.”

“Take that back,” Calum challenges.

“Nope.”

Calum smirks.

“You asked for it.”

He lunges at Luke, tackling the blonde boy to the ground, the latter letting out a yelp. Immediately, before Luke can catch his breath, Calum’s fingers find Luke’s sides and he digs in immediately.

“Stop!” Luke cries out, giggling and squirming and writhing. “Get off me!”

Calum straddles Luke and traps the blonde’s thighs together between his muscular ones. He grabs Luke’s wrists and pulls them away, holding them onto the grass.

“Take it back,” Calum repeats. Luke is panting, chest rising and falling, but he sets his jaw proudly and his blue eyes are sparkling with the thrill of the challenge.

“No,” he says with a giggle.

And in that moment, Calum can see why the hat had such difficulty sorting Luke – he could easily be a Gryffindor or Slytherin. Probably even a Ravenclaw if he worked hard enough.

“As you wish,” Calum shrugs before lifting Luke’s wrists above the boy’s head and pinning them down with the one hand. Luke bites his lip as Calum’s other hand slowly trails down the blonde’s body, until they’re positioned right below his ribs.

“You sure?” Calum smirks. Luke’s eyelids flutter shut and he shivers but his jaw stays set. He looks like a petulant child and Calum is so endeared that he loses his will to torture the boy. Instead, he leans down and gently nips at the skin where Luke’s jaw meets his neck, cackling loudly when Luke squeals and shoves him off.

“Still think the dungeon is dingy?” Calum asks, lying on his back next to Luke, shutting his eyes and enjoying the warmth of the sun on his eyelids.

“Yes.”

“Merlin, you’re so stubborn.”

“It’s dark and cold. It needs warmth. And sunlight.”

“So basically it needs to be the Hufflepuff basement.”

“Pretty much!”

Calum scoffs.

“You damn Puffs. And we’re supposed to be the proud ones.”

Calum hears Luke sit up as he laughs, and next thing he knows his head is being lifted gently and is back in its comfortable placement in Luke’s lap. Calum sighs contentedly and begins to drift off.

* * *

When Calum arrives at the party with Michael, Ashton and Luke, it’s already in full swing. There’s students ranging from fourth years right through to seventh years.

“Should we get drinks?” Calum suggests. The others agree and Calum leads them over to where he’s spotted the table at which drinks have been charmed to pour themselves into cups. Naturally, it’s gotten a little messy.

Calum grabs two cups that have just been filled and passes them to Luke, who hands them to Ashton and Michael. Then he gets two more and hands one to Luke.

“Cheers, lads!” he raises his cup before swigging back the drink and reaching for another one.

“Well if it isn’t our gorgeous new captain!”

Calum turns around and is greeted with the smirking face of Stella Stanley, the Slytherin keeper. A sixth year student, she was the one most people expected to be captain this year, as the last one graduated. But Professor Leveloff chose Calum instead, much to everyone’s surprise, not least of all his own.

“Hello, Stella,” Calum grins, taking a sip of his new drink. “Good summer?”

“Eh. Would’ve been better knowing I was coming back with a shiny new badge.”

“Can’t have it all, huh?” Calum jokes. Stella’s smirk grows.

“But I can have most of it.” She eyes Calum up and down, before holding his gaze challengingly. Calum can vaguely hear Ashton and Michael joking about him but he’s too preoccupied to notice.

“You should come party with the rest of the team, captain,” Stella speaks eventually. “Seeing as we’ll all be taking orders from you. We need to know how you like things.”

Calum smirks.

“Yeah, alright.” He quickly downs his drink and grabs another one. “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he excuses himself from his friends and lets Stella lead him away.

They don't go to the rest of the team. Instead, they escape to one of the empty classrooms in the dungeon and Stella jerks him off until he comes and bites hickeys into his neck and moans loudly when he plays with her tits. It isn’t very long until she’s pulling away and righting her clothes, smirking as she backs out of the classroom and leaves Calum on his own. 

Calum lingers for a minute, slightly dazed, until he remembers that there’s a party going on that he’s not at. So, he pulls up his black jeans and fastens them, fixes his hair and leaves the same way Stella did.

When Calum staggers back to the dungeon hall, where the party is being held, some of the students have broken into the potions basement and unidentifiable potions are now spilt across the floor. Calum thinks it’s a good thing that the Slytherin head of house is also dungeons master because they’ll definitely be losing house points for this.

Calum stumbles around the hall, looking for his best friends when he realises they’ve probably split up. Sure enough, he spots Michael in a corner, snogging the face off a fourth year with vibrant auburn hair. Ashton is probably off getting high with his mega hipster friends and so Calum decides to look for Luke.

He finds him soon enough, and is about to make his way over when he realises Luke is talking to someone. That someone is a girl. A pretty Gryffindor in their year with dark skin and gentle eyes and soft-looking hair, smiling up at Luke as he laughs exuberantly at something she must’ve said. Calum feels something flare up in his stomach, akin to the feeling from the firewhiskey in his parents’ liqueur cabinet that he and Michael sometimes helped themselves to when the household was asleep. Except this feeling isn’t quite as exciting. It feels a lot like jealousy, though Calum can't understand why he should be jealous when he was the one that left. He can't help it, though, and he finds himself feeling rather lonely.

Instead of approaching them, Calum moves back to the drinks table and leans against it, grabbing another drink and feeling sorry for himself. He’s brooding and doesn’t realise when Michael appears by his side.

“You alright, bro?” Michael questions. Calum doesn’t bother answering the question, instead asking,

“Who’s that with Luke?”

Michael looks over to where Calum is watching Luke with the same girl.

“Oh. That’s one of the Gryffindor prefects. Her name starts with a Z or something.” Michael shrugs. “Why?”

“Nothing. Just wondering. Never seen him with a girl before, is all.”

Michael snorts.

“True that.” Then he continues. “Hey, listen, I’m gonna head off with…uh…” he turns back and Calum notices the auburn-haired girl is still with him.

“Chris,” She reminds him with an eye-roll.

“Right, yeah. Chris.” Michael grimaces playfully at Calum. “See you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, mate,” Calum forces a laugh. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t!”

Michael snorts again.

“Yeah, but what wouldn’t you do?”

And with that he’s gone and Calum’s on his own again, but barely for a minute before someone else’s sidles up next to him.

“Michael getting lucky?”

Calum whips his head around to see Luke grinning lightly. He wants to be light and playful and joke about Michael too, but he’s too busy trying to crane his neck subtly, looking for the girl Luke had been talking to.

“Yeah. Where’s your friend?” Calum tries to comment offhandedly, taking a sip of his drink. Luke frowns.

“Which friend?”

“The girl you were talking to earlier. Z something.”

“Oh! You mean Zhenya?”

“Yeah,” Calum tries his hardest not to sound bitter.

“She left,” Luke explains.

“And you aren’t going with her?”

Luke frowns slightly and gives Calum a funny look and Calum has to look away, lifting his drink back to his lips in an attempt to hide the colour in his cheeks.

“Calum, I’m gay.”

Calum nearly chokes on his drink.

“You what?” he sputters.

“I’m gay,” Luke repeats. His voice is steady but he’s fidgeting with his fingers in a way Calum has come to learn as his tell when he’s nervous.

“Oh. I didn’t…I mean…you never said.”

“Never came up,” Luke shrugs. “I guess I kinda thought you’d figure it out, considering how I never participate when you guys start talking about girls.”

“I just thought you were shy about that stuff. I didn’t realise you weren’t interested at all.”

“Oh, well I’m not,” Luke chuckled. “Also Zhenya has a boyfriend. Hot shot seventh year, Gryffindor quidditch captain, head boy?”

“Oh, that guy. He’s a douche.” Calum rolls his eyes and Luke laughs.

“Yeah, you’d think that. He’s a hot douche, though.”

“Where are your loyalties, Hemmings?” Calum gasps dramatically, deliberately ignoring that firewhiskey feeling that is trying to flare up again.

“I mean, he’s not nearly as hot as the Slytherin captain,” Luke grins. “Or as much of a douche.”

“Cheers,” Calum says dryly and Luke laughs again, leaning into Calum. The dark haired boy wraps his arm around his friend’s shoulder and pulls him closer and Luke nuzzles into Calum’s neck, mewling appreciatively.

“Do the others know?” Calum asks suddenly. “Ash and Mikey, I mean.”

“Dunno,” Luke shrugs, stifling a yawn. “Might’ve figured it out, but I haven’t, like, told them or anything.”

Calum hums as a reply and there’s a certain smug satisfaction in knowing he’s the first of them that Luke’s explicitly come out to.

The next time Luke yawns, he doesn’t manage to stifle it.

“Easy there, mate,” Calum jokes softly. “Bedtime?”

Luke nods slowly and Calum tugs him away from the drinks table, steering him out of the hall, along the dungeon corridor and up the stairs.

“You don't have to walk me back,” Luke yawns.

“S’fine,” Calum shrugs as they continue their journey across the castle and to the basement.

“No,” Luke shakes his head. “The Slytherin dungeon is just down the stairs from the dungeon hall. You’re gonna have to come all this way then walk back on your own.”

“I don't mind. Besides, I’ve already come this far, haven’t I?” Calum jokes. Luke sighs but Calum can tell he appreciates it. They continue to walk in silence until they arrive at the stack of barrels that conceal the Hufflepuff basement. Luke pulls out his wand and taps the lid of one of the barrels in a particular rhythm. The lid swings open.

“Night, Cal,” Luke smiles sleepily, reaching his long arms out to hug Calum. Calum laughs softly and accepts the embrace.

“Night, Lukey.”

The blonde boy eventually lets go and crawls into the open barrel, towards the common room. Calum watches until the barrel’s lid closes, before he turns and makes his way back to his own side of the castle, smiling fondly to himself. 

* * *

The next morning, Calum isn’t up until half eleven.

Checking his bedside clock, he groans at the realisation that he’s missed Saturday brunch and now has to stay hungry until the trip to Hogsmeade that afternoon.

“Finally up, mate?”

Calum sits up and blinks repeatedly to get the sleep out of his eyes. The dorm is empty, save for himself and Michael, who is on his bed next to Calum’s, stroking Mandy affectionately while messing around on some device Ashton must have snuck in for him.

“Yeah,” Calum croaks. “Missed brunch, though.”

“Nah, you’re alright.” Michael nods at the floor next to Calum’s bed. “Luke put a plate together, put a cloaking charm on it and ordered me to deliver it to you.”

Sure enough, when Calum looks over the edge of his bed, there’s a plate of delicious looking food just waiting to be devoured.

“Fucking love that kid,” Calum sighs appreciatively.

“Doesn’t he know it,” Michael grunts.

Calum reaches down and lifts the plate and cutlery onto the bed, digging in immediately. As his rumbling stomach is satiated, he remembers the events of last night.

“Mm,” he exclaims around a mouth of food.

“Once you finish, mate”

Calum chews quickly and swallows.

“Did you know Luke was gay?” he asks. Michael raises an eyebrow but doesn’t look particularly fazed.

“Is he? Cool.”

“Did you know already?” Calum doesn’t want to believe that he was the only one that didn’t figure it out.

“Nah,” Michael shrugs and relief washes through Calum. “I mean, I kinda suspected with how he never seemed interested in dating any of the 50 million girls that would kill to be with him but, like, he never said anything. Didn’t want to push it until he was ready.”

“You suspected? How? Like, he never acted gay…”

Michael pulls an unimpressed face.

“Gay people don't act in a certain way, Calum.”

“No, I know, I didn’t mean it like that,” Calum amends. ‘I just meant, like, he doesn’t, like, drool over hot guys or anything.”

Michael snorts.

“Do you drool over hot girls?”

“Quite frequently,” Calum admits with a laugh. Michael rolls his eyes and shakes his head exasperatedly.

“Well, not everyone’s like you, Cal. Luke’s shy.”

“Yeah, I know,” Calum defends. “I’ve been friends with him for four years now.”

“Then you also know that he’s not the kind of guy to just dive straight in.”

“Mm. Yeah, I guess.” Calum accepts that and turns his attention back to his food. As he continues shovelling the food into his mouth, he can feel Michael’s bright green eyes on him.

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just…could you actually not tell at all? Not even with the way- you know what, never mind.”

“The way what?” Calum pushes, intrigued.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Michael Gordon Clifford, you will tell me this instant,” Calum commands as authoritatively as he can. But Michael simply glares at Calum for using his middle name before scooping Mandy, grabbing his signature leather jacket and leaving the dorm without another word.

Calum’s shoulders slump as he finishes his food quietly, his mind racing with the possibilities as to the end of Michael's sentence.

* * *

Later that day Calum is in Hogsmeade with his three best mates, along with all the other students with permission to leave the castle and visit the village. As soon as they reach the high street, Ashton makes a suggestion.

“Zonko’s?”

Michael beams.

“Definitely.” He raises an eyebrow at Luke and Calum. “You guys in?”

Calum is about to agree when Luke speaks first.

“Nah, I need to get some stuff first. I’ll meet you guys there.”

“Cal?”

“I’ll stick with Luke,” Calum replies even though he’s running dangerously low on his secret stash of dungbombs to throw during Professor Banes’ most boring lessons.

“What could you possibly need to get so early in the year?” Ashton asks Luke, baffled.

Luke shrugs.

“I forgot a book I needed. And also more quills.”

“I don't believe you,” Ashton shakes his head. “You’re only taking your OWLs at the end of this year. I’m taking my NEWTs and you’re more invested in your work than I am.”

“Don't give Lukey a hard time,” Calum pouts jokingly, wrapping his arms around Luke’s waist and pulling the taller boy closer to him. Michael and Ashton roll their eyes in perfect synchronisation.

“Whatever. Catch you guys later. Meet outside Three Broomsticks.”

The two older boys take off, leaving Luke and Calum on their own.

“So where did you wanna go first?” he asks.

“Book first,” Luke confirms. “The quills aren’t as necessary.”

“Alright, then!”

Calum releases Luke’s waist, links their arms and begins to walk, Luke falling easily into step with him. As they approach Tomes and Scrolls, Calum remembers something.

“Oh, I might’ve let slip to Mikey about you being gay,” he admits sheepishly. Luke stumbles slightly.

“Oh yeah,” he laughs nervously. “Forgot I told you about that.”

“That drunk, huh?” Calum teases.

“I may or may not have had a few more drinks after you left.”

Calum laughs. They drop the topic for a while, stepping into the bookstore and silently greeting the storekeeper with a nod. When Luke has found the book he needs, he pays for it then the boys make their way to Scrivenshaft’s where Luke picks up a couple of brand new quills. Once Luke is done, they head down to the Three Broomsticks. The other boys aren’t there yet, so they make their way inside and order a round of butterbeers, before taking the drinks and making they’re way to a table at the back of the homely pub.

“So you don't mind?” Calum brings it up again. “That Michael knows, I mean.”

Luke shrugs.

“Not really. He’s one of my best friends, after all.”

“Yeah. Might as well tell Ash now,” Calum grins. “You know what he’s like about being the last one to know things.”

Luke laughs.

“True,” he agrees, sipping on his butterbeer.

“I won't tell anyone else. Swear.” Calum places a hand over his heart.

“It’s…whatever,” Luke shrugs. “I don't think people really care whether I’m gay or not. It’s more of a big deal in the Muggle world, I guess. I think wizards are more concerned about blood purity.”

Calum tenses.

“Why would you say that? Has someone been giving you shit? Because I swear to Merlin-”

“Relax, Cal.” Luke’s rolls his eyes fondly. “Nobody’s giving me shit. That’s just what I’ve been told by some of the Muggle-borns in Hufflepuff who still have, like, friends in the Muggle world. Apparently their friends say it’s a big thing when you come out.”

“Oh.” Calum sighs in relief. “Do the Puffs know then?”

“Nah,” Luke shakes his head. “There’s a sixth year guy called Marcus who came out to the house last year. But nobody really made a thing about it.”

Calum frowns slightly.

“Is he hot?”

Luke snorts.

“Does it matter? I’m not into him.”

“So are you into someone else?”

“Just drink your butterbeer, Cal.”

“Is that a yes, then?”

“Christ, stop pestering-”

“I’m your best mate, I just wanna know-”

“Wow, you two are like an old married couple!”

The two boys look up to see Michael and Ashton smirking down at them, butterbeers in hand. They scoot over, allowing their friends to sit, Michael sliding in next to Calum and Ashton nudging Luke playfully.

“So what’s all this bickering about?” Michael asks.

“Luke fancies the pants off someone but won't tell me who,” Calum pouts. Luke groans in mortification as Michael and Ashton gasped salaciously.

“Who is she?” Ashton nudges Luke again. “He? They?”

“He,” Calum confirms, smirking at Luke, who simply glares at him. Michael raises a questioning eyebrow at Calum, but lets it fall once he figures that they talked about it and Luke doesn’t mind them knowing.

“Well, isn’t that exciting,” Ashton giggles. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

“I hate you all,” is all Luke says, bringing his glass back to his lips. His cheeks are a bright red.

“I’ve been trying to get him to tell but he won't,” Calum explains.

“Is that because it’s one of us?” Michael waggles his eyebrows playfully. Luke’s blush deepens but he continues drinking, not willing to deal with their questions.

“Wouldn’t that be scandalous!” Ashton giggles. “Well it can't be me, seeing as I’m your cousin-”

“But you’re only step-cousins,” Michael points out cheekily. Ashton laughs.

“Yeah, but he’s like my baby brother, man! That’d be all kinds of wrong!”

“Did I mention I hate you guys?” Luke gasps, as he finally lowers his empty glass for some air.

“Is it Mikey?” Ash ignores Luke’s comment. “The beautiful love story of how you met, with him screaming at you over some dumb cat-”

“Whoa! Don't insult Mandy like that!”

“Ugh, I hate that fucking cat.”

Michael glares at Ashton and Luke takes the opportunity to swipe Michael’s butterbeer, chugging it as well.

“Oi!” Michael exclaims. “Why do none of you dull fuckers respect me?”

“Because you have a lame cat,” Ashton retorts.

“Why don't you just finish grilling Luke about his crush, you wankface?”

“How about you don't,” Luke pleads.

“So you admit you have a crush!” Calum all but yells victoriously. Luke’s entire face turns bright red as he downs the rest of Michael’s drink in one go.

“Nicely done, Cal,” Ashton nods approvingly. “Now you have to tell us, Luke.”

“I don't have to do anything,” Luke shakes his head exasperatedly. “I’m going to get another butterbeer.”

“Get me one too, seeing as you bloody swiped mine,” Michael says scornfully. Luke rolls his eyes but doesn’t object, climbing out over the bench. Calum watches him make his way towards the bar, smiling inwardly as Luke bends his neck to be able to pass under the low beams across the ceiling, broad shoulders accidentally knocking into people.

“Hey, Cal,” Michael smirks when Calum turns to face him. “Is there something _you_ wanna tell us?”

Calum’s heart stops for a second as he tries to read Michael’s expression.

“Uh…” he falters, trying to think quickly but coming up blank.

Fortunately, he’s saved when one of his teammates, a sixth year beater called Jamie Lancer, marches up to the table and slams his pint down.

“Our captain’s a fucking lad!” Jamie roars, the handful of Slytherins behind him sniggering along.

“You alright, Lancer?” Calum laughs.

“Hell yeah, I’m alright! Not as good as you, though, if last night is anything to go by!”

Calum smirks but acts oblivious.

“Dunno what you’re on about, bro.”

“The fuck you don't! But good on ya, mate. Merlin knows I’ve been trying to get on Stella for five years now. It’s that damn captain badge isn’t it?”

“Well, I mean, being the captain has to come with its privileges, doesn’t it?” Calum plays along.

“That’s my man!” Jamie yells, clapping Calum on the back. “You’re the fucking man! Our captain’s the fucking man!”

Jamie and the rest of the Slytherins leave then, heading off to find a table and it’s a lot quieter.

“Rude fuck didn’t even acknowledge me,” Michael grumbles. “And we’re in the same house!”

“I distinctly remember you saying you prefer not to be acknowledged,” Ashton points out.

“Yeah, but it’s still rude.”

Ashton rolls his eyes but turns to Calum instead.

“So, how’d the one-on-one team meeting with Stella go last night?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Calum sees Luke walking back towards them and he suddenly doesn’t want to talk about Stella anymore.

“Fine.”

“Fine? Is that all we get?” Ashton teases. “Come on, Cal, you know you’re a bragger!”

“What’s Calum not bragging about?” Luke returns and sets the two butterbeers down, pushing one towards Michael before awkwardly climbing back into his seat.

“Fucker won't tell us about his special time with Stella Stanley,” Michael informs. Luke frowns.

“You had special time with Stella Stanley?”

And Calum really, really doesn’t want to talk about it.

“Of course he did. Where d’you think he was when he abandoned us last night?”

“I thought he was going to meet the team…” Luke looks confused and Calum wants to reach over and smooth out the creases on the blonde boy’s forehead. Instead, he grips his butterbeer in both his hands.

“Oh, Luke,” Michael snorts. “Always so naïve.”

Luke’s face falls slightly and he goes quiet and Calum wants to kick himself even though he doesn’t know if Luke’s sad because Michael called him naïve or because…and he has to shut that train of thought down immediately.

“It wasn’t anything,” Calum says eventually.

“Aw, come on! Don't wimp out like that!”

“It wasn’t,” Calum insists. “She does that with every new captain.”

“Is that, like, an initiation ritual?” Ashton laughs. Michael sniggers.

“Yeah, can't be a captain unless you get your cock in Stella Stanley’s mouth.”

Luke winces, so slightly that Calum is pretty sure he’s the only one that saw, but it still makes him feel like shit.

“Whatever,” he says. “Should we head back?”

“Let Mikey and Luke finish their drinks first,” Ashton advocates. Michael downs his drink at once and Luke pushes his over to the red-haired boy, who shrugs and downs Luke’s as well.

“Shall we?”

“Yeah.”

The foursome clamber out of the tight space and leave the pub. As soon as they step outside, Calum immediately links his arm with Luke’s. The taller boy flinches but Calum keeps his hold firm, earning him a small smile from his best friend. Calum snuggles his face into the crook of Luke’s neck and he hears Luke exhale a quiet laugh. The other two boys are walking slightly ahead.

“Love you the most, Lukey,” Calum says, feels like he needs to remind Luke of how much he means to him. He can feel Luke smile.

“Okay, Cal.”

Calum pulls away to look at Luke dead in the eyes.

“I’m serious,” he insists. “You mean the world to me. You, Mikey and Ash. Nothing else compares to you guys.”

Luke’s smile seems a little sad.

“Me too, Calum.”

Calum doesn’t know how else to tell Luke that he values his best friends more than anything in the world so he just links their arms again and holds on as tight as he can as they try to catch up to the others.

* * *

It’s the first game of the season – Gryffindor against Hufflepuff. The entire school is buzzing with excitement, keen to find out if the new Gryffindor squad has what it takes to retain the Cup.

Calum is sat in the Great Hall, having breakfast next to Luke and across from Ashton and Michael. Luke, in his yellow quidditch robes, is fiddling nervously with his hands, food untouched.

“Lukey, you’ve gotta eat before the match,” Calum nudges Luke gently.

“Yeah, I know,” Luke sighs and picks up his fork. He doesn’t eat, though. He simply pokes at his food, pushing his scrambled eggs around his plate.

“Come on, Luke,” Michael urges. “It’s not like it’s your first time on a broom.”

“Yeah,” Ashton agrees. “You’re a great seeker!”

“You don’t even like quidditch,” Luke laughs softly.

“No,” Ashton admits with a shrug. “But I know you’ve been the Puffs’ seeker for a year now. That’s gotta count for something.”

“He’s right,” Calum nods. “You’ve been on the team for a year. They know what you can do. If they didn’t like you they’d have kicked you off already.”

“I know,” Luke groans frustratedly. “It’s just, it’s the first game of the season and everyone’s already decided it’s gonna set the path for the season’s end and it’s against fucking Gryffindor and have you seen they’re team this year?”

“Sorry we’re so intimidating,” Ashton jokes. Calum kicks him under the table to inform him that he’s not helping. Luke’s hands are visibly shaking.

“It’s okay, Lukey,” Calum rubs Luke’s back. “D’you wanna go for a walk? Get some fresh air, maybe?”

“Yeah,” Luke breathes before clearing his throat and repeating. “Yeah.”

“D’you want us to come too?” Ashton offers.

“Nah, they’re good,” Michael decides for them, before Calum or Luke have the chance to say anything. And Calum is kind of glad, to be honest. There’s a part of him that kind of wants to be the one that calms Luke down, even though he does think too many people talking at Luke won't help him.

They climb over the bench and Calum throws his arm around Luke’s shoulder, steering him out of the Great Hall and into the castle’s central courtyard.

The two boys sit on a wooden bench as the cool, mid-October air whistles around them.

“Y’alright?” Calum angles himself towards Luke.

“Not really,” the blonde boy laughs anxiously.

“Don’t stress about it, Lukey. It’s not like you haven’t been training since we got back.”

“I know that, Calum, it’s just…” Luke runs a hand frustratedly through his hair, messing up his usually perfect quiff and Calum resists the urge to reach up and fix it. “I don’t know. I feel like people are expecting more from me this year, you know? Like, last year it was different because I was new on the team so people didn’t mind as much if I, like, fucked up or whatever. But now they expect me to have settled in and gotten over the pressure and I…I just don't feel like I have? You know?”

“Yeah, I get you,” Calum nods, bringing his hand up to Luke’s back and rubbing it gently. “It’s hard. It’s the same for everyone, at the start of the year. It’s normal to feel, like, stressed about it. I mean, it’s been, what, four months since you played a proper match? Nobody expects you to get right back into it. It’s okay to make a few blunders.”

Luke seems to have calmed down after having talked about it, although his hands are still shaking slightly so Calum reaches down and holds them between his own. Luke smiles gratefully.

“Thanks, Cal.”

“Anytime, Lukey.”

Calum intertwines one of his hands with Luke’s and, without thinking about it, turns to face Luke, gently running his fingers through Luke’s blonde hair to straighten the hairs that are sticking out at odd angles, even though he thinks Luke looked adorable with messy hair. 

When he pulls his hand away, he sees Luke watching him with an odd expression that makes Calum’s gut do a weird thing and that in turn causes his face to heat up because that’s just stupid and Luke is his best friend and he’s definitely looked at him like that before and Calum’s stomach never did weird things.

“Should we head back in?” Calum suggests. “You still need to eat some breakfast.”

Luke nods and the two boys get up and walk back into the Great Hall. 

When they return to their friends, Michael raises an eyebrow and gives Calum a questioning look and Calum suddenly remembers that he and Luke are still holding hands. He ignores Michael’s unspoken question and sits, going back to wolfing down the food on his plate.

“We good?” Ashton asks.

“Yeah,” Luke replies and he definitely sounds a lot more relaxed, his voice not as tight.

“Good.” Michael smiles. “And we’ll all be there supporting you.”

“Yeah,” Calum nods. “Wasn’t planning on supporting those lousy Gryffs anyway.”

“Hey,” Ashton giggles, pretending to be offended. “No need for this Gryffindor slander!”

“There’s always need for Gryffindor slander,” Calum rebuts.

“It’s so unnecessary.” Ashton shakes his mane of curly hair. “But even I will support you, Luke. Against my own house.”

“Right,” Michael scoffs, “Because you’re the perfect model of house spirit, Ash.”

“I’m gonna be stood in a crowd of passionate Gryffindors, cheering on the opposition. I’m pretty sure they won't be pleased with the display of disloyalty.”

“Fair point,” Michael concedes.

“Anyway, the point is we’ll all be there supporting you, Lukey,” Calum reassures. “Just look over to the stands and we’ll be the embarrassing ones jumping and waving.”

“Thanks, guys,” Luke says and his gratitude is apparent on his face. 

* * *

Hufflepuff wins the match, but by the skin of their teeth. The Gryffindor chasers are demolishing Hufflepuff 110 – 40, Hufflepuff’s saving grace coming in the form of the inexperienced, third year Gryffindor seeker who is too nervous to go head-to-head with Luke. And, when Luke catches the snitch Calum and Michael scream and cheer at a volume Calum is pretty sure is louder than the entire Hufflepuff stand. When Luke catches the snitch, looking slightly dazed with relief, Calum does the most ridiculous waving-cheering combination to catch his attention. And when Luke’s sees him and laughs, cheeks dimpling, Calum feels as if he’s won the match too. 

* * *

Two weeks later, they’re at another party – this time it’s at the lake and is thrown by the Gryffindors in an effort to outshine the Slytherins – and Calum is smashed. It’s a Halloween party, although nobody has bothered to dress up. Calum is on his own, having lost his three best friends when his quidditch teammates dared him to down an entire pitcher of a mixture of firewhiskey, elf-made wine and whatever other beverage with above a 10% alcoholic content they could get their hands on. He did it, of course, but after about half an hour of searching for his friends, the concoction has hit him.

Calum manages to stumble to the tree and leans against it for support. He’s looking around for people he knows when he spots Luke about 10 metres away from him…with a guy. They’re not doing anything, just talking, but Calum still feels queasier than he did a few seconds ago, especially when the guy takes a step towards Luke. Not that he isn’t happy for Luke – it’s about time the boy got some – he’s just…a little bit thrown off by not having Luke’s pretty much undivided attention. Somewhere in the back of his head a sardonic voice tells him that if he can’t handle Luke talking to guys, he’s going to have a hell of a hard time when Luke gets a boyfriend. And that just…no. The thought sends Calum’s head reeling and he has to close his eyes and lean his head back against the tree.

“You alright, pal?”

Calum feels a hand land on his shoulder as the words are spoken in a deep, tempered drawl. Calum opens his eyes and is met with the sight of a boy with oak-coloured, almond-shaped eyes and a thick, dark brown afro that has been pulled back into a ponytail.

“You’re a friend of Luke’s, aren’t you?” the boy questions.

“Yeah,” Calum replies, stealing a quick glance towards where Luke is still in conversation with his friend.

“I’m Marcus,” the boy continues. And the name rings a bell but he can't seem to place it – until he does.

“You’re that gay Puff guy!” Calum exclaims.

“Well, most people just call me Marcus,” is the dry response. Calum feels his cheeks heating up as he realises how he must have come across.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that,” he shakes his head vehemently. He moves too quickly, though, and loses his balance. Fortunately, Marcus grips him and prevents him from toppling over.

“Steady on,” Marcus laughs, helping Calum right himself.

“Thanks, man,” Calum giggles embarrassedly.

“Not a problem,” Marcus grins. “Still haven’t told me your name, though.”

“Oh. I’m Calum.”

“Nice to meet you, Calum.”

“And you. And I really am sorry about what I said. I didn’t mean it to come out so…weird.”

“It’s fine,” Marcus smirks. “But if it’s really bothering you…I mean…I know a way you could make it up to me…”

And oh. Oh. With that in the air, Calum suddenly notices how pretty Marcus is. He’s got high, defined cheekbones and pink lips that look like they’d be really soft and yeah. He’s pretty. And that’s weird because Calum’s never really thought of a guy as pretty before. Except maybe Luke. But Luke doesn’t count, Calum thinks, because Luke just is pretty. That’s just the only way to describe him. With his innocent sky-blue eyes, and the adorable slope of his nose and his usually chapped rosy lips that break into an award-winning smile…yeah. Luke is definitely extremely pretty.

But then Calum feels bad for thinking about Luke right now and instead focuses on the feeling of Marcus’ hand on the small of his back from when he stopped Calum from falling over. He focuses on how that hand is causing a small heat to pool in the pit of his gut. When he looks back up, Marcus is leaning in and Calum can't really find it in himself to lean away. So he doesn’t. And then Marcus’ lips are on his and Calum lets his eyes fall shut and just goes with it.

Marcus’ hands begin to roam, gentle but firm, and his grip is stronger than the girls Calum has been with but he finds that he likes it, likes the thought of waking up to soft bruises on his hips and the excitement of it causes a low moan to tumble from his mouth. Marcus mumbles something that Calum doesn’t quite catch.

“Huh?”

“I said,” Marcus repeats, low and raspy, “I think I’ve had enough of this party. How about you?”

* * * 

Calum wakes up to the feeling of villainous sunlight burning down on his face and that’s how he knows that he isn’t in the Slytherin dungeon. Opening his eyes, he sees bright yellow curtains and drapes all around him. Definitely not the Slytherin dungeon. 

He tries to sit up but his brain feels like it’s sliding around in his skull and it’s really quite unpleasant so he gives up on that and falls back. There’s a quiet grumble next to his ear and Calum turns his head slightly, only to find his face accosted by a mass of curly hair. He pulls back and tries to think which of the Hufflepuff girls he remembers speaking to for long enough to have ended up in her bed. But then he squints at the person beside him and realises it isn’t a girl at all. 

Oh. Right.

Calum forces himself to sit up, ignoring the jarring pain in his head as he swings his legs out the bed. His clothes from the night before are scattered around the dorm and he quickly gathers them, pulling them on. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he deciphers that it was only half past 7. The other beds in the dorm are occupied, but fortunately, they’re probably all used to the bright sunlight at this time of morning and aren’t woken by it anymore. 

Calum has visited Luke in the Hufflepuff basement enough times to know his way from the dorms out. He treads quietly up the stairs and into the round common room, only to be met by the very blonde he was just thinking about.

“Calum?” Luke squeaks from his place on the sofa, where he is sat in his pyjamas with a mug in his hands and his legs tucked under himself and his hair flat against his forehead.

“Luke!” Calum croaks, clearing his throat. “Ah, um. Hey.”

“Hi,” Luke frowns. “What’re you doing here?”

“I…uh…I spent the night,” Calum admits, unable to think of a lie quickly enough.

Luke looks confused for a moment until realisation dawns on him and Calum might be imagining it but Luke’s eyes seem to dull ever so slightly.

“Oh. Who with?” Luke asks.

Calum feels like a deer in headlights. He doesn’t want to tell Luke about last night’s events, not when he still has to make sense of them, not when opening that door could lead to a whole number of other things that Calum really doesn’t want to think about, especially not now, with a pounding headache and Luke right in front of him.

“Um…” Calum rubs the back of his neck nervously. “I mean, do you really want the details?”

Luke’s expression is indecipherable and Calum is worried he’s going to have to elaborate. But then he scrunches up his nose playfully and relief floods through Calum.

“Yeah, you’re right, I really don't,” Luke’s accompanying laugh sounds somewhat forced but Calum doesn’t let himself notice that. “D’you want some coffee or something?” Luke offers.

“No thanks,” Calum declines. “I should probably get back to the dungeons. Michael’s probably wondering where I am.”

“If he’s even there himself,” Luke points out.

“True,” Calum chuckles. “But I should go.”

“Alright. See you at brunch?”

‘Yeah, see you.”

And then Calum is making his way through the barrel and out the Hufflepuff basement.

When Calum gets back to his own dorm, the four other boys are in bed, still asleep. He quickly kicks his jeans off and clambers into his own bed. He squeezes his eyes shut and tries to fall asleep in the comforting gloominess of the green cast of the lake through the windows, but his mind feels like it’s going at 1000 miles a minute and he finds himself unsuccessful.

Calum is still trying to shut his brain off when he hears the sleepy grunt from the bed next to him.

“Dude, why do you sound like you’re being smothered in your sleep?”

Calum opens his eyes and rolls over to face Michael, who is watching him, heavy-eyed, from his place tucked under his duvet.

“Morning to you too,” Calum replies dryly.

“It’s barely morning so I don't need to greet you yet,” Michael states. “Now, what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing,” Calum replies automatically, turning away in an attempt to make it more difficult for his best friend to see through his lie. It doesn’t work.

“Bullshit,” Michael deadpans. “Where were you last night?”

“At the party, same as you.”

“Don’t be a dumbass, Cal, you know what I mean.” Calum can practically hear Michael roll his eyes. “Where was the after-party? And who was hosting?”

Calum sighs.

“Michael, my head is killing me. I really don't wanna talk right now.”

“Okay, something’s definitely up.”

Calum hears ruffling sheets and then he’s being shoved as Michael attempts to shuffle into bed with him. And Calum is usually up for a cuddle but he’s just not in the mood this time.

“Go away, Michael,” he whines, digging his elbow into where he estimates the other boy’s ribs should be.

“See? You won’t even cuddle. Spill it, Cal.”

“You’re gonna wake up everyone else.”

“Fine, then let’s go to the common room.”

“Michael-”

“Cal-”

“Fine!” Calum concedes gruffly. “Let’s go.” He throws the covers off with enough force to make sure Michael knows just how annoyed he is, before grabbing a pair of sweats from the trunk at the base of his bed and pulling them on. 

Calum trudges into the common room and throws himself across the long sofa, holding a cushion to his chest. Michael follows, pushing Calum’s legs off and sitting down, before lifting the dark-haired boy’s legs and placing them on his lap.

“Alright. Talk.”

Calum groans.

“About what?”

“Whatever’s bugging you.” Michael states. “You can start with where you were last night.”

Calum struggles for a moment before he finally sighs out, “Hufflepuff.”

“Oh,” Michael raises an eyebrow. “Were you with Luke?”

“No!” Calum says with more force than intended, unsettled by the thought of being with Luke the way he’d been with Marcus.

“Okay, calm down,” Michael rolls his eyes. “So who with?”

“Someone,” Calum mumbles.

“Wow thanks for that descriptive elaboration,” Michael says sardonically. Calum doesn’t respond so he continues. “Are you gonna make me guess?”

“You wouldn’t guess it.”

“So it’s someone who isn’t your usual type?”

“Something like that,” Calum laughs wryly. Michael cocks his head.

“Just tell me, Cal,” he says softly. “We’ve been friends for ten years now. You can tell me anything.”

And Calum knows it’s true, knows that, if nobody else, he can tell Michael anything and be safe in the knowledge that the red-haired boy won’t think any less of him. So, he takes a deep breath and mumbles into the cushion.

“You’re gonna have to speak up, mate.”

“I was with Marcus,” Calum repeats louder, still pressing the cushion to his now warm face. Calum can hear his heart pounding as he waits for Michael’s reply.

“Who’s Marcus?”

Calum almost kicks Michael with frustration.

“A guy in sixth year,” he explains.

“Oh.” And then it seems to hit Michael. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Michael is silent for a second before he snorts.

“Dude, why didn’t you just fucking tell me? Luke’s out and that was never an issue-”

“I don't know!” Calum throws the cushion down frustratedly. “It’s not like…I wasn’t, like, scared you wouldn’t be cool with it, it’s just…I don’t know. Like, with Luke, Luke knew, you know? He knew he was…he knew where he was. But for me, I’m not sure. Like, I just…I don't know?”

“You can say it, you know. It’s not a taboo word.”

“Yeah, I know,” Calum sighs. “I just-”

“You don't know if you’re gay,” Michael cuts him off. “So what is it that’s making you not sure?”

“I don’t know,” Calum shrugs exasperatedly. “I mean, I’m very much still into girls, no doubt about that. But, like, it was very, very different to getting with a girl, but I still…liked it? Like, I liked it in a different way, but just as much?”

“You know there’s such a thing as bisexuality, right?”

And the way Michael says it, so simply and so calmly, just seems to make all the worry seep out of Calum. He can do that – he can like this new thing without having to leave behind who he thought he was before. It’s not a big deal – Michael doesn’t think it’s a big deal and neither should he.

“Yeah, I guess,” Calum finally says, and even he can hear how much less wound up he sounds. Michael laughs.

“Is that it?” he asks incredulously. “Of fucking course your biggest problems have such simple answers. Typical you, honestly.”

“Hey!” Calum pouts, shoving Michael weakly with his foot. “Different people have different definitions of big problems.”

“Yeah, like the raging boner you get every time we cuddle?”

“What?” Calum shrieks. Michael erupts into full-bellied laughter, which is when Calum realises he was joking.

“You are the absolute worst,” Calum scowls, folding his arms across his chest.

“Oh, Merlin!” Michael howls, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. “This is too good! Just wait until the others hear about this.”

At those words, Calum feels a knot form in his stomach. The easy relief he felt just a minute ago seems to be seeping out of his body and he suddenly feel tense and nervous again.

“Um…” he begins. “Actually, can we not, like, tell?”

“What?” Michael asks, still recovering from his laughing fit. Calum finds himself fidgeting with his hands, a habit he realises he probably picked up from Luke.

“I…could we not tell Ash…and Luke.”

Michael frowns slightly.

“Why not? I mean, obviously, if that’s what you want, but why? Luke could probably help you get to grips with it-”

“I know,” Calum interjects. “And obviously I’ll tell him – them – at some point, just not yet. So, if you could just keep it to yourself…”

“Yeah, sure thing, man,” Michael accepts, not pushing it any further despite the confused expression on his face, and Calum is glad he’s got such a great best friend, is glad Michael is the one in the same house as him, the one who knows all his tells and who knows when to push the matter and when to let it go.

“Thanks, Mikey,” Calum smiles gratefully.

Michael scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Whatever. Now can we go for brunch? My stomach feels like it’s being eaten from the inside out by a fucking manticore.” 

* * *

To say Calum was stressed would be a mighty understatement. 

The day had finally come for the second quidditch game of the season, Slytherin against Ravenclaw, which also happened to be Calum’s first game as Captain.

“I can’t do it, Mikey,” he announced, flopping down on Michael’s bed in his green robes.

“Yes, you can, Cal,” Michael replied calmly, rolling his eyes.

“No, I genuinely can’t.” Calum shook his head ferociously. “I’m gonna be sick and then I’m gonna feel rotten from being sick on an empty stomach and then I’m gonna pass out and then I’ll go down in history as the most pathetic captain to exist ever.”

“And you guys say I’m the dramatic one,” Michael snorts.

“I’m serious, Mikey!”

“I know,” Michael sighs. “But you know I’m the worst person to give you a pep talk when any form of physical activity is involved.”

Calum laughs quietly.

“Fair point.”

“Yeah. So the best I can do is to suggest we head for breakfast now so that if you’re sick it won’t be on an empty stomach.”

“Thanks, Mikey,” Calum says dryly. “Always looking out for me.”

They do leave the dorm and head to the Great Hall, slipping into their usual seats with Ashton and Luke who are already there.

“How’re we feeling, boys?” Ashton chirps, forever perky.

“Calum’s shitting himself,” Michael says simply as they help themselves to the food on the table.

“About the game?” Ashton clarifies. “You’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Calum mumbles.

“Wow. He really must be shitting himself if he isn’t being a cocky ass before a game,” Ashton jokes.

“Of fucking course I’m shitting myself!” Calum explodes. His three friends are momentarily taken aback, stunned into silence. Calum sighs and focuses on the food on his plate.

“Okay.” Luke is the first to speak. He drops his cutlery and steps out of his seat. “Come on, Cal. We’re going for a walk.”

“No,” Calum shakes his head. “I don’t need a walk. I need to eat before the match.” He stabs his fork on his plate and shoves a forkful of food into his mouth, forcing himself to swallow without really tasting any of it.

“You can eat when we get back,” Luke insists.

“No, it’s fine. I’m okay-”

“Cal.” Michael’s voice is firm and he fixes Calum with a look. “Go with Luke.”

Calum hesitates for a moment before conceding.

“Fine,” he sighs, imitating Luke’s actions before walking swiftly out of the Great Hall, aware of Luke hot on his heels. When they get to the courtyard, Calum lets out a loud cry of frustration.

“Yeah, okay.” Luke says quietly. “That works too, I guess.”

Calum turns back to face the blonde boy, who is watching him with a small, empathetic smile.

“Sorry,” he mutters, folding his arms across his chest.

“Don't be.” Luke shrugs. “It’s good to let it out. Wanna sit?”

“Not really. But you can if you want.”

“Nah, I’m fine.”

Calum begins to pace the courtyard and he knows Luke is watching him, waiting for him to talk but he’s never been great at talking about his emotions and has no idea how to start. He turns around and sees Luke still stood in the same position, hands hidden inside the sleeves of his black sweater, ears and nose tinged pink from the cold November air, and he’s suddenly so fond that his heart feels like it’s melting and he just wants to open up to Luke so the boy can go back inside and not freeze to death.

“Where’s your jacket?” Calum asks, walking back towards Luke.

“Left it inside,” Luke shrugs.

“Well that was stupid,” Calum teases.

“Yeah, probably,” Luke agrees. “But stop stalling. Talk to me.”

Calum sighs.

“What do you want me to say, Luke? You know what’s up.”

“Nervous? That’s fine. Remember all the stuff you told me? It’s normal to be nervous, nobody expects you not to be and nobody’s expecting you to not make mistakes.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“Because I’m the fucking captain this time!” Calum cries. “Nobody even thought I was being considered for captain and all of a sudden I am and I just know everyone’s still sceptical but they’re going with it and I just can’t afford to cock up. And everyone’s expecting me to be good if I’ve been fucking chosen over the older players. How am I supposed to fucking lead the team while simultaneously keeping an eye out for the bloody snitch? I don’t know how to do this! Nobody’s told me how to do this!” Calum’s chest is heaving and he’s breathing heavily.

“Hey. Relax.”

Luke steps towards Calum and places his hands on the dark-haired boy’s shoulders.

“Just breathe. Okay?” He’s staring at Calum with concern written all over his face and Calum rolls his eyes but nods. “Good. Now listen. You’re without a doubt the best seeker at this school. Don’t fucking roll your eyes at me, it’s true. You’re the longest standing current seeker and I mean it when I say you’re probably the best seeker I’ve seen during our entire time at this school. Before I became Hufflepuff seeker, you’re the one I looked up to and stop fucking rolling your eyes at me, goddammit! I’m being serious! When I decided to try out for the team I used to watch you and try to pick up tips that could help me be a better seeker because you are honestly the best one I know. So, don't even worry about proving yourself to be good enough to be captain or whatever. I promise you that you already are. Got it?”

“Yeah,” Calum nods.

“Good. Now, as for the how to be a good captain thing, I have no idea. But I doubt Leveloff would’ve chosen you if she didn’t think you have what it takes to be a good captain. I know that’s obvious as fuck but, like, yeah. I feel like you need reminding of that. And your teammates may have been surprised but they’re not, like, staging a mutiny so I’m pretty sure they’re okay with it. You’ve been with them for three years, there’s got to be a certain amount of respect there that means they’d be okay with having you as a captain. I really don't think you have anything to worry about. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Luke giggles.

“Maybe okay will be our always.”

“What does that even mean?” Calum asks, shaking his head bemusedly. Luke grins sheepishly, a blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“It’s from a Muggle film. It’s supposed to be romantic.”

Calum rolls his eyes even though there’s an annoying flutter in his stomach.

“You trying to woo me, Hemmings?”

Luke’s blush deepens but he laughs.

“Maybe. Is it working?”

Calum is shocked at how quickly the word ‘yes’ pops into his mind because no, it’s definitely not working and he can feel his face heating up furiously at just the thought that it could be.

“No. Now come on, let’s go back inside before you freeze your balls off, you idiot.” 

* * * 

It turns out Luke is right, and Calum really did have nothing to worry about. The Ravenclaw team is a mess and by the time the snitch is spotted, Slytherin is already leading by 180 points so Calum is really only in it for the fun when he races the Ravenclaw seeker to be first to the small, golden ball (he catches it anyway). And, even though the Slytherin team isn’t quite the mean machine Calum is hoping they’ll become soon, they obviously have chemistry and Calum leaves the pitch feeling good about the season ahead. 

* * *

Calum is in the middle of a game of miniature quidditch with Michael in his bedroom back home. The term has ended and they broke up for the Christmas break barely a week ago.

Normally Calum would be one hundred per cent focused on the game – he takes miniature quidditch very seriously – but today he can't seem to keep himself focused. It’s the day before Christmas and Luke has invited them all round to his place for an early Christmas dinner with his family. With dinner on his mind, Calum finds himself distracted. His restlessness doesn’t go unnoticed by Michael.

“Dude, what’s up?” Michael asks. “I’m thrashing you!”

“You’re not thrashing me,” Calum defends.

“I most definitely am. But don't dodge – tell me what’s up.”

“Nothing,” Calum shrugs. “Just kinda excited about tonight.”

Michael looks up at him curiously.

“What, dinner?” he asks. Calum hums in reply. “Why? It’s just Luke and Ash and their family.”

“Yeah, but it’s in Luke’s house. We’ve never been to Luke’s house.”

“Well, yeah, that’s because our families are way more used to magic so it makes more sense to come to one of our places,” Michael reasons.

“I know, I get that, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve never been to his. Aren’t you even a little excited?” Calum frowns, not understanding why Michael finds his excitement so unwarranted.

“Not really,” Michael shrugs as he easily scores another goal. There’s a small smirk on his lips when he says, “I can’t say I get particularly excited to go round to my friends’ places. I mean, maybe if they’re hot…”

“Please. Luke is, like, the hottest guy at school.”

Calum freezes as he realises what he’s just said. Michael looks up at him, his eyebrows practically disappearing beneath his fringe and smirk deepening.

“Is he, now?”

Calum’s face burns bright as he tries to backpedal.

“Not like that. Obviously. I meant, like, objectively. He’s an attractive guy. Anyone could tell you that.”

“No, yeah, totally.” Michael’s smirk widens into a full on grin. “Wonder what his bedroom’s like.”

Calum hadn’t even thought about that. He pauses for a second and Michael gets another goal in.

“Don’t try and set us up,” he warns Michael sternly, eyes narrowing at his friend.

“I wasn’t planning on it,” Michael sniggers.

“No, seriously. Just because we’re both not straight doesn’t mean we need to…be with each other. Luke’s just my best friend and I don't see him as anything else.”

Michael places a hand over his heart and feigns hurt.

“I thought I was your best friend!”

“Not for much longer if you keep being such a shithead,” Calum mutters. Michael just laughs and refocuses on the game.

They play for a little longer before Michael glances at his watch and sighs.

“I have to go, man.”

“Why?” Calum frowns. “It’s only, like, half 6.”

“My aunt and uncle from Australia are visiting with their kids so my mum says I have to spend some time with them otherwise she won't let me go to the dinner,” Michael explains.

“Oh. Alright then see you tonight.”

“Yeah, later.” 

When Michael leaves, Calum sprawls on his bed, mindlessly following with his eyes the baubles he has enchanted as they float around his bedroom. He’s there for about 20 minutes when his door is flung open and Mali Koa steps in with her hands on her waist, still dressed in her office robes.

“Get up, loser,” she says. “Gotta get ready. I’ll be back in an hour.”

“Mali?” Calum sits up and frowns. Mali rolls her eyes.

“No, Great-Aunt Julie’s ghost.”

“What’re you doing here?” Calum asks, ignoring his sister’s sarcasm.

“I’m picking you up, duh.  For dinner.”

“Wait, you’re coming?”

“Obviously.” She barks out a short laugh. “Did you really think you were the Hemmings’ favourite Hood? Please.”

Calum pulls a face.

“I’m everyone’s favourite Hood.”

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, bud.” Mali snorts. “I’m gonna head home and get changed. See you in a bit.”

There’s a whooshing sound and then she’s gone. Calum sighs and scoots off his bed, heading for the bathroom to get ready. It’s purely coincidence that his only clean shirt is the red and black flannel that Luke once said looked good on him. He only chooses to wear his nicest black jeans because it’s a dinner and he wants to humour Luke’s mum, Liz. He flat out refuses to acknowledge the fact that he spends about twice as long on his hair as he ordinarily would, but he does acknowledge the fact that he looks damn good when he’s done, if he does say so himself.

Mali is already back by the time he’s done getting ready so Calum grabs his jacket and hurries down the stairs. Mali raises an eyebrow.

“Well, don't you look nice.”

There’s a suggestive lilt to her voice and Calum’s face heats up slightly.

“It’s a dinner,” he mutters. “I have to.”

“You never dress up for my dinners,” his mother pouts. “Merlin knows I’ve tried to get you to.”

“He never dresses up for anything,” Mali states. She smirks. “Wonder what’s different about the Hemmings’.”

If Calum wasn’t blushing before, he definitely is now.

“Be nice, Mali,” Joy scolds, but she’s fighting a smile. Calum doesn’t understand what joke is passing between them that he isn’t in on but it’s making him uncomfortable and he doesn’t like it.

“Can we just go?”

“Sure thing, little brother,” Mali laughs. She holds out her arm. “Grab on tight.”

Calum does as he’s told.

“Bye now,” Joy smiles. “Say hi to Liz and Andy for me.”

“Will do,” both children say and suddenly they’re whooshing and the solid ground beneath them disappears.

As usual, it gets to the point when Calum feels like he’s about to suffocate and then they aren’t whooshing anymore. Straightening up, Calum looks around and finds that they’re in a fairly dodgy-looking alley. Mali notices his confusion.

“This isn’t it, idiot.” She explains. “They live in the middle of a Muggle suburb. We obviously weren’t just gonna apparate on their front step.” 

They leave the alley and walk for about five minutes before Mali is climbing up the steps to a white house and ringing the doorbell and Calum follows. The door swings open and they’re face to face with the eldest Hemmings son, Ben.

“Mali! Calum!” he booms, pulling them both into a hug.

“Hey, Ben,” Mali laughs. “Long time no see.”

“Yeah, way too long. The ministry’s been working us like dogs,” Ben huffs, stepping aside and leading them into the house.

“Oh, yeah, I remember Jack mentioned it’s been a madhouse recently…”

Calum tunes out of the conversation to take in the house around him. The walls are lined with pictures of the family except none of these pictures are moving, the wide smiles unwavering on the faces, much unlike the Hood family portrait in which portrait-Mali and portrait-Calum are constantly bickering and shoving at each other.

He spots a picture of Luke, much younger than he is now. The blonde boy is grinning widely, fully dressed in his school robes, hat and all, standing at platform nine and three quarters. It occurs to Calum that the picture was most likely taken right before he boarded the train in their first year, which also happens to be the day they first met. He thinks about the moment he saw Luke walk past and how at the time he hadn’t realised that the boy would become one of his best friends.

Further along, there’s another picture of Luke, this one much more recent. He’s sat at table in his pyjamas with his hair unquiffed and, in his hand, he’s holding up his prefect badge. On his face is a smile that Calum recognises only too well – it’s the closed-lipped one he puts on when he’s kind of embarrassed but also kind of proud. Calum feels a certain sense of smugness in knowing that he can identify Luke’s different smiles. Never mind that he’s in a house full of people that have been able to do that since before Calum even knew Luke.

Ben leads them into the dining room at the exact moment the other two brothers enter from the kitchen, each holding serving dishes that they set down on the table. Jack rushes to greet Mali and Calum makes his way over to Luke, pulling him into a hug.

“Hey, Cal,” Luke laughs. Calum pouts.

“That’s it? I haven’t seen you in a week and a hey is all I get?”

Luke giggles and the sound is right next to Calum’s ear and it makes his chest tighten with so much affection that he feels like he can't breathe and has to pull away. As he does, he appraises the boy before him. Luke is dressed in all black – black converse, black skinny jeans that for once aren’t ripped at the knees, black shirt buttoned all the way up, emphasising the way his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows at the precise moment Calum’s eyes trail over his pale throat. Finally, Calum reaches the blonde boy’s face and is momentarily surprised by the hint of…something in his bright blue eyes. Calum would question it but it’s stirring something in the bottom of his gut that he isn’t quite ready to acknowledge. So instead he lifts his gaze to Luke’s erect hair. Eventually, Calum speaks.

“You look good,” Calum states, nodding approvingly with a smirk and pointedly ignoring the part of his mind that, for some reason, wants to talk about just how good Luke looks. Luke, for his part, mirrors Calum’s smirk despite the pink flush that appears on his cheeks and tints the tips of his ears.

“Well, I must do considering how hard you just checked me out.”

Calum almost chokes on air, playing it off as an incredulous laugh. Because he most definitely was not just checking Luke out. He was merely assessing if the younger boy looked suitable for a dinner. Obviously.

“Keep dreaming, Hemmings,” Calum snorts, rolling his eyes.

“Please,” Luke laughs. “If I was gonna dream about anyone checking me out it would definitely be more along the lines of a Leonardo DiCaprio.”

Calum doesn’t know who that is and he does knows that Luke is joking but he can't stop the flare of something that’s definitely not jealousy that consumes his stomach before it does so. Luke must notice Calum’s ignorance to the name he’s just dropped because he shakes his head and says,

“Don’t worry about it. Come say hi to mum.” 

* * * 

The dinner goes great.

Ashton gets there with his mum and younger siblings and Calum finds it fascinating to watch his best friends interact so naturally in a non-magical setting. Michael arrives last, dropped off by his parents who insisted on bringing him the Muggle way – by car.

When the time comes to actually eating, Calum is sat across from Michael and next to Luke, who wolfs down his food during every course and proceeds to nick Calum’s from his plate. Calum spends the entire dinner giggling and fork-fighting with Luke and being scolded by Liz. He also spends a good part of it playing oblivious to the suggestive looks Michael keeps shooting him before turning back to pay attention to whatever story Ashton’s telling him.

When dessert is over and the table has been cleared, the four of them sneak a couple of bottles of some drink called Smirnoff Ice and hide out in the den. The drink is disgusting but it gets them drunk and soon Luke is pressed against Calum’s side on the old, leather sofa with Michael and Ashton on beanbags across from them and Calum can't find it in himself to mind the vile taste of the drink.

They’re drinking and talking when Michael gasps and grins as if he’s come up with the greatest idea in the world.

“Let’s play Never Have I Ever!” he practically yells.

“That’s an awful idea,” Ashton rolls his eyes. “There’s, like, nothing we don't already know about each other.”

“Not necessarily.” Michael turns his grin at Ashton. “I’ll go first. Never have I ever described my farting patterns to a girl while on a date.”

Ashton’s eyes grow wide and his face goes redder than Calum thought was even physically possible. Calum guffaws and Luke giggles and soon they’re all in a fit of laughter except for Ashton.

“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that ever!” he shrieks at Michael.

“Well, technically I didn’t tell anyone anything,” Michael points out.

“Dude,” Calum manages to get out between fits of laughter. “Why would you even do that?”

“I was nervous!” Ashton defends. “She was really hot and it was, like, my second date ever so I didn’t know what to say so I just kinda rambled and it came out before I even realised what I was saying.”

“Anyways,” Michael says smugly, “that just proves my point that there’s still some dirty laundry among us.” He throws a pointed look at Calum and the dark-haired boy has to look away. 

They go a few rounds, throwing out ridiculously specific deeds that are obviously meant to target and tease one person at a time (Calum’s turn comes when Ashton giggles, “Never have I ever run around the quidditch pitch stark naked”. “It was a dare! I couldn’t back down against the Gryffs!” he explains when Michael and Luke bombard him with demands for a justification) and soon they’re reduced to giggling messes, clutching their stomachs to relieve the ache that comes from too much laughter.

“Okay, I’ve got one,” Michael pants, straightening up and clearing his throat. His eyes twinkle mischievously and he smirks at Calum, who swallows nervously as he awaits Michael’s next blow. “Never have I ever kissed a guy.”

Calum tenses and he glares at Michael who shrugs innocently, although his eyes soften and he mouths what looks like you don't have to drink if you don't want. And Calum may roll his eyes but really, he’s grateful knowing that Michael won't force him into anything he isn’t ready for. He still drinks, though – just a small sip that he tries to take casually, subtly. He can feel Luke raise his own glass to his lips and once again that not-jealousy feeling flares up in the pit of his stomach but he tries to keep cool, angling his head so that he can see Luke, who has turned a bright red.

“Aww, Lukey!” Ashton coos, laughing.

“Shut up,” Luke mumbles, hiding his face against Calum’s shoulder.

“Tell us all about it, Luke,” Michael urges. “Do we know him?”

“No,” Luke deadpans before reconsidering. “Well, Ash might. He- well. They’ve all been Muggles. I’ve never really gotten with anyone at school.”

“Oh, there’s been more than one?” Michael asks. Calum picks up on that at the same time and, honestly, it feels like the not-jealousy is eating him from the inside out.

“Don't make it sound like that,” Luke whines. “You’ve kissed more than one girl.”

“Fair enough,” Michael concedes and Calum knows he’s right, knows he has no reason to be upset that Luke has kissed multiple guys – hell, Calum himself has probably kissed more girls anyway – but that knowledge does nothing to repel the bitter taste at the back of his throat or repress the ever-growing not-jealousy.

They let Luke be and each try to come up with the next question and Calum thinks he might have gotten away with his subtle drink. That is, until Ashton pipes up.

“Wait, Cal, did you drink because you were answering the question or were you just thirsty?”

And time seems to slow down for Calum. He knows Ashton has probably forgotten the question already and means nothing of it, just wants everyone to get their fair share of humiliation, but it’s kind of a big deal to Calum in that it could define the moment he comes out to his best friends. Michael is watching him with a sort of encouraging look and Calum just thinks fuck it.

“Um…both?” is what actually comes out of his mouth. There’s a brief moment of silence during which Calum can hear his heartbeat in his ears as they try to remember the last question. 

Luke gets there first.

He sits up and stares at Calum with wide eyes and his mouth agape.

“Wait, you mean-”

But then Ashton gets there too.

“You’ve kissed a guy?” he shrieks.

“Calm down, Ash. It’s not that big of a deal,” Michael says calmly and Calum kind of really loves him right now.

“Wait, you knew?” Ashton gasps. “You told Michael but not us?”

“Well, I had to start somewhere, right? And considering Michael sleeps in the bed right beside me…” Calum shrugs, although he does feel a little guilty for not telling them earlier.

“Wow, way to pick favourites,” Ashton huffs, although he’s clearly not actually upset.

“Of course I’m his favourite,” Michael scoffs. “I’ve known him for ten years!”

Ashton shoves a cushion in Michael’s face before turning back to Calum.

“So, tell us about it,” he says curiously. “Who was it? When was it? What was it like?”

Calum isn’t entirely sure he’s going to be comfortable talking about it but he’s come this far already and these are his best friends and if he can't talk to them about it then, really, who can he talk to? So, he takes a deep breath and answers.

“It was at that Halloween party and it was…nice? I guess. I don't know. Don't really remember – I was drunk.”

“Who with?” Luke’s voice is quiet but stiff and Calum doesn’t like it. When he turns to look at the blond boy, his expression is unreadable, blue eyes not as warm and inviting as usual.

“Um…” Calum stutters. “Marcus.”

Luke’s eyebrows rise about two feet high in surprise before they come back down and his expression becomes unreadable again.

“That explains you leaving Hufflepuff the morning after.”

“Um what?” Ashton yells. “You slept with him?”

“No!” Calum shakes his head vehemently. “Not, like, all the way.”

Michael intervenes again then.

“Okay, I don't know about you guys, but I can't say I’m particularly interested in hearing about the details of Calum’s sex life.” He scrunches up his nose. And Calum really fucking loves him right now.

“Yeah, true,” Ashton laughs. There’s a brief pause before he shakes his head. “Still can't believe you didn’t tell us you're gay. Even after Luke had already come out.”

“Bi,” Calum corrects. “And,” he shrugs, “I dunno. It just never came up, really. It isn’t really something you just bring up, you know?”

“Yeah, fairs.”

They go back to the game but Luke doesn’t return to his position at Calum’s side. In fact, he seems to curl up at the other end of the sofa, leaving Calum feeling like shit, even though he’s not quite sure how he’s upset the younger boy. Neither of them really get back into the game, and it just kind of turns into a Michael and Ashton thing until Ashton’s younger brother, Harry, appears at the top of the steps, informing them that Michael’s parents are here and Ashton’s mum says it’s time for them to leave.

Calum and Luke get up and follow the others up to the main house, saying their hellos and goodbyes. When everyone’s gone, Calum turns to Luke.

“Um…any idea where Mali might be?” he asks nervously, which is stupid because it’s Luke and he should never be nervous around Luke but also Luke should never be on the opposite end of a sofa from him yet here they are. “It’s kinda late and we should probably be off soon.”

“Probably in the living room with Jack,” Luke replies and he turns and begins to walk and Calum can only hope he’s leading him to said living room because it’d be really awkward if it turned out Luke was going to bed or something.

Fortunately, he’s not going to bed and they soon step inside a quaint living room where Mali, Jack and a girl Calum recognises as Jack’s girlfriend from Hogwarts (Celestine or something) are sat on the floor.

“Hey buddy!” Mali slurs with a giggle that indicates she’s definitely had her fair share to drink. “What’s up?”

“Just wondering if we’re leaving soon,” Calum replies. “It’s pretty late. Mikey and Ash are gone.”

“Ah, but here’s the thing, young Thomas,” Mali grins. “We’re not leaving!”

“We’re not?” Calum feels his stomach plummet and he hates that the first time he hears he’s sleeping at Luke’s house, it fills him with dread.

“Nope!” She pops her p.

“Okay,” he says as calmly as he can through a tight throat. “Well, where are we sleeping? I’m pretty knackered…”

“Don't know about you, but I’m sleeping with Jack and Celeste! One more terrible trio sleepover before the mini-me’s come along, eh?” (Celeste, Celestine – Calum had been close enough) Mali titters and Jack and Celeste join in amiably.

“You can sleep with Luke,” Jack finally says. “Right, Lewi?”

Calum can feel Luke tense up beside him and he resists the urge to step away, not liking being near Luke when he’s like this.

“Yeah, sure.” There’s an iciness in Luke’s voice. The other three are too drunk to notice it. Calum isn’t.

“Not, like, sleep with him,” Mali giggles. Calum’s face burns hotly and he can't resist the urge to glance at Luke, slightly comforted by the fact that Luke’s face is literally the colour of a tomato.

“Mali, please!” Celeste gasps, laughing. “They’re 15!”

“Oh, come off it, C,” Mali sniggers. “What sort of angels were we at 15?”

“We were also all prefects and very responsible!”

“Luke’s a prefect!” Jack defends.

“Yeah, we know.” Mali rolls her eyes. “You Hemmings boys, huh?”

From the corner of his eye, Calum sees Luke turn to leave and, not knowing what else to do, follows.

They walk in silence, heading up the stairs and along the corridor until Luke stops at a door and pushes it open. Calum follows him in and he really wishes Luke wasn’t angry or upset or whatever so he could at least give him a mini tour of the room or something. As it is, Calum doesn’t know what to do with himself, doesn’t know if he’s allowed to look around without permission.

“So, this is where all the dirty deeds happen?” he jokes in an attempt to break the tension. Luke glances at him and smiles briefly, but it doesn’t reach his eyes and overall the joke falls flat. Calum decides to try a more direct approach.

“What is it, Luke?” he asks. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Luke replies sharply, pulling out a pair of grey joggers and a white t-shirt and tossing them at Calum. Sighing, Calum lowers himself onto the bed because he knows he’s not going to get anything out of Luke when he’s like this.

“Where’s the bathroom?” he asks.

“Down the corridor, on the right.” Calum gets up and is about to walk out the door when Luke speaks again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Calum stops and turns around. Luke is standing on the other side of the room, next to the dresser. He’s fidgeting with his fingers and one of his bare feet is on top of the other, digging in nervously. He somehow manages to look awkward in his own bedroom and Calum can't stop himself from being endeared.

“Tell you what?”

“About Marcus.”

Oh.

Calum walks back into the room and just stands and faces Luke awkwardly.

“I don't know,” he shrugs. “Didn’t really know how to bring it up, I guess.”

“Not later on, the morning after it happened.” Luke argues. “I was right there when you were walking out. I asked you whom you’d been with. You could’ve just said Marcus right there and then.”

Calum feels bad but he also feels like he has the right to not share information if he doesn’t want to.

“I wasn’t ready. I needed to work out some stuff.”

“I could’ve helped you! Calum, I’m gay, I obviously know what it feels like. I could’ve helped you work things out-”

“I wasn’t ready!” Calum insists. “I didn’t want to talk about it!”

“You talked about it with Michael!”

And, wait, is that what this is about? Calum feels his frustration dissipate as he realises that Luke is just suffering from a little bit of jealousy and, no, that does not send a thrill down Calum’s spine.

“Yeah, I told Mikey, but only because he wouldn’t let it go. I got back and tried to go to sleep but he kept bothering me and almost shoved me out of my own bed and practically dragged me to the common room when I said I didn’t want to wake the rest of the dorm up. Hell, he’d probably have chained me up all day if I hadn’t told him.”

Luke’s lips twitch upwards and his eyes lose some of their previous iciness when he says,

“Is that the kinda shit you’re into, then? I mean each to their own…”

Calum’s jaw drops and he gapes at Luke incredulously, shaking his head when the blonde boy begins to giggle.

“You’re ridiculous, you know that?”

Luke sticks out his tongue.

“You love me really,” he singsongs.

“Meh. Now hurry the fuck up and get changed so we can cuddle and go to sleep. I’ve had enough of this whole being awake thing.” Right then a yawn hits Calum as if to emphasise his point. Luke smiles widely and turns away from Calum, unbuttoning his shirt. And Calum doesn’t mean to watch him undress, it’s just that Luke has a really nice back and he’s a little bit entranced by the way the younger boy’s muscles flex as the black shirt slips off his stupid broad shoulders. Calum only manages to look away when Luke goes to take off his jeans and there’s no way Calum is going to keep looking when there’s a pooling warmth in the pit of his gut that he won't, can't acknowledge.

Turning away as quickly as possible, Calum begins to strip down as well, pulling off his flannel and kicking off his jeans.

“Woah.” Calum, down to just his boxers, whirls around and sees Luke staring at him with wide eyes and bright pink cheeks. “I thought you were getting changed in the bathroom.”

“I was going to, but only because I thought you were mad at me.”

“As if I could ever be mad at you,” Luke scoffs. He walks over to the bed and sits at the end of it, facing away from Calum. “Alright. Now hurry up and finish.”

Calum tries very hard not to think about the way it felt having Luke’s eyes on his near-naked body as he pulls on the joggers. The feeling has done absolutely nothing to ease the warmth in Calum’s gut, instead making it stronger and hotter.

But, for some reason, Calum wants to feel it again.

He places the t-shirt Luke gave him on top of the dresser before throwing himself on the bed, stretching out with his arms behind his head in a way he likes to pretend he doesn’t know emphasises his lean muscles.

“All done,” he announces and Luke turns around. Blue eyes trail up Calum’s body and he feels as if his skin is being set alight, loves it and hates it at the same time.

“Something wrong with the t-shirt?” Luke finally asks.

“Nope!” Calum pops his p. “I just prefer to sleep with as little clothing as possible.”

“Of course you do.” Luke rolls his eyes. “Classic you.”

“What?” Calum grins. “Worried Liz won't be too pleased in the morning when she finds you cuddled in bed with a hot, semi-naked guy?”

“More like worried she’ll find my taste questionable,” Luke shoots back playfully. It’s a joke, Calum knows, but there’s something so satisfying in Luke referring to Calum as his taste. It’s kind of overwhelming but Calum tries not to overthink it, to simply take it as the playful banter they’ve always had.

“You wound me, Lucas,” Calum sighs. “But I know for a fact Liz would find me to be a wonderful son-in-law.”

“I’m sure she would,” Luke agrees softly and Calum tries to convince himself that he’s imagining the almost wistful honesty in Luke’s voice but it sound so real and Calum is afraid he’ll say something he isn’t even sure he knows for sure so he deflects as best he can.

“Wait, your family does know, right?  About you being gay?”

“Course,” Luke snorts. “It wasn’t exactly subtle, what with me insisting on seeing every Leonardo DiCaprio film and engaging in some very manly squealing every time he came onscreen.”

This time, Calum’s not-jealousy flares up and bubbles over.

“Who even is this Leonardo DiCaprio guy?” Calum demands exasperatedly. “You keep going on about him!” that’s an exaggeration; Luke’s only mentioned him twice the whole night. Still. Calum is speaking hyperbolically. And that’s perfectly valid. Luke fixes him with a weird look before answering.

“He’s a Muggle film actor,” he explains. And Calum feels kind of stupid because if he hadn’t been so fixed on his completely unwarranted not-jealousy he could have easily figured that out from what Luke had said. Naturally, he tries to play it off.

“Well, he must really be something if you’d pick him over me,” he sighs.

Luke snorts again, softer this time.

“I never said I’d pick him over you.”

Luke seems to freeze for a moment, as if he’s said something he wasn’t supposed to and his flush no longer seems to be from just the alcohol. For Calum’s part, however, a wave of giddiness is making its way along his body. His chest swells and his stomach swoops and he’s filled with smugness. He tries to play it cool, though.

“Yeah, you did,” he insists. “You said you’d rather be checked out by him than me.”

Luke grins and raises an eyebrow.

“So you admit you were checking me out?” he giggles teasingly. This time it’s Calum’s turn to flush from more than the alcohol.

“Don’t deflect,” he pouts. Luke rolls his eyes fondly but crawls up from the foot of the bed to where Calum is lying.

“Yeah, but I bet he’s not as good a cuddler as you. So I could never pick him over you.” He smiles sheepishly before collapsing and burying his face into the crook of Calum’s neck. As Calum wraps an arm around Luke’s shoulders and pulls the blonde boy closer, he doesn’t think he could get any fonder without literally melting into a pile of marshmallows, never mind that that makes no sense.

“So what you’re saying,” Calum murmurs, pressing his smirking lips into Luke’s hair, “is that you’d pick me over the guy that is essentially the reason you came out to your family?”

Luke’s blush barely has time to fade before it’s flaring up again and he makes a small indistinguishable noise that sounds rather unpleased. He lifts his face grudgingly and mutters, eyes closed,

“S’not the reason I came out to them.”

“No?”

“Nuh,” Luke shakes head.

“Then what is?” Calum doesn’t know why he’s suddenly so interested. There’s a brief pause as Luke tired eyes scan Calum’s face, as if searching for something and Calum holds his breath.

“Goodnight, Cal.” Luke finally says and returns to his previous position and Calum is only slightly disappointed but leaves it.

“Goodnight, Lukey.”

Eventually, Calum realises that Luke has drifted off to sleep, as the younger boy’s breathing evens out. Lying awake, Calum lets his thoughts wander back to the two pictures of Luke he noticed earlier. There’s a twist in his stomach as he thinks through all the moments they have shared in the timespan between the two pictures. And it shouldn’t feel like that big of a deal, after all he’s known Michael for twice as long as he’s known Luke and they’ve definitely shared more moments, but the moments he spends with Luke just feel different. Which isn’t to say he loves Michael any less, he just loves the two of them differently. And that thought sparks a realisation that is the last thing that goes through Calum’s mind before sleep takes over.

* * * 

“I like him,” Calum says bluntly.

He’s sprawled on Michael’s bed after spending all of Christmas day with his family, internally stressing over this new development.

A part of Calum had been hoping he would forget his realisation from that night as soon as he woke up, or at least be able to pin such a ridiculous thought on the excess amount of alcohol he had. But waking up in Luke’s bed, finding that they had somehow shifted so that Calum’s back was pressed to Luke’s chest and the younger boy’s arm draped lazily over his waist, feeling Luke’s soft breath against the back of his neck, feeling Luke’s something else lower down south pressing slightly into Calum’s thigh, Calum knew he was a goner. A fact further cemented when Calum managed to wriggle around so he was facing Luke, waking him up in the process, and his heart felt like it was swelling and tightening at the same time as he came face to face with Luke’s sleepy smile.

And so, naturally, the first person he could think of to talk to about this grave new problem is Michael, which is why he ends up in Michael’s house as soon as is socially acceptable during the holiday period.

“Like who?” the red-haired boy drawls from his bathroom, his mouth full of toothpaste. He spits and turns to face Calum.

“Luke,” Calum admits.

“Yeah, but who else?”

Calum sits up and frowns at him.

“Nobody else. Luke.”

Michael rolls his eyes and goes back to brushing his teeth.

“I thought you had some actual news to tell me.”

“Are you not hearing me?” Calum asks incredulously. “Luke! I like Luke! As in our tall, blonde, stupidly long-legged best friend?”

“Can’t say I know that many other Lukes,” Michael shrugs.

“Then what aren’t you getting here?” Calum is dumbfounded. Michael finishes brushing his teeth and exits the bathroom, wiping his mouth on a towel.

“Calum, you’ve liked Luke for months now,” he says, so calmly and assuredly that Calum has a brief panic that everyone knows.

“What do you mean? No I haven’t-”

“Yes, you definitely have,” Michael laughs. “Maybe even longer.”

“No, but I can't have because I only just realised I like him today. How could you have known before me?”

“I’m your best friend, Cal,” Michael sighs, perching on the bed and patting his lap for Mandy to climb into. “I see things about you before even you do. Although I am surprised that you hadn’t already figured out that you’re, like, in love with Luke.”

“Woah, woah, woah.” Calum’s eyebrows shoot up as he shies from Michael’s words. “Nobody said anything about being in love. I just have dumb crush on one of my best friends. That’s it.”

“Sure,” Michael snorts. “That explains your extreme bouts of jealousy and murderous glaring whenever Luke is within a one-mile radius of anyone that isn’t you.”

“I do not glare murderously,” Calum protests. “And if I do it’s only because I’m looking out for him.”

Michael gives Calum a look that indicates that he absolutely does not buy that but at least he lets it go. Calum falls back against the pillow and groans.

“What do I do, Mikey?”

“Confess your love, make out and live happily ever after,” is the unhelpful reply.

“Wow, thanks,” Calum says dryly. “But seriously. I don't know what to do.”

“I’m serious, Cal. Tell him. He deserves to know.”

“But it’ll fuck up our friendship!” Calum cries frustratedly.

“No it won't, you idiot.” Calum doesn’t even have to look to know Michael is rolling his eyes.

“How can you even say that? How can you honestly believe that him knowing that I fancy him won’t screw everything over?”

“Because he’s fucking in love with you as well!”

Calum’s brain seems to short-circuit at that and he struggles to find his words.

“Um, what?” he stammers. “How do y- did he- no he isn’t-”

“Merlin, are you really that blind?” Michael is looking at Calum like he’s grown a second head. Calum can only imagine that his own expression is something near the same. “Calum, Luke’s been pining over you for years. Since the first day, I’m pretty sure.”

“How would you even know that?” Because Calum is still half certain Michael is talking shit.

“It’s not exactly a secret,” Michael laughs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means everyone that knows Luke well enough knows it. I.e. me and Ashton. And Luke’s family, probably.”

“Wait, he told you guys?” A bubble of anger suddenly rises inside Calum, as he remembers how Luke acted when he found out Calum had kept something from him.

“Of course not. Don’t be daft – this is Luke we’re talking about,” Michael scoffs. Calum’s anger fades as quickly as it came. He never could stay angry with Luke for long, didn’t want to.

“So, how do you all apparently know?” Calum is still curious and maybe a little bit hopeful, although he won't admit the latter to even himself.

“Well, first of all, it’s really fucking obvious in the way he looks at you. Like a lovesick puppy.”

“He looks at everyone like that!” Calum counters. It’s true as well – Calum has memories even from their first year of feeling unsettled in his stomach whenever he noticed Luke looking at someone with the same wide-eyed, almost love-struck expression Calum thought was reserved for him. It took a while to understand and accept that that was just the way Luke looked. But Calum realises that, even back then, he was already getting jealous over Luke, realises that he’d never really stood a chance in resisting.

“No, but it’s different with you,” Michael insists. “When you talk, he literally looks like he’s got hearts for eyes. It’d be sickening if it wasn’t actually kinda cute.”

Half of Calum wants to protest and the other half really, really wants to believe Michael. But before he gets a chance to respond, the older boy is speaking again.

“Then there’s the way he never opens up to anyone except for you, or unless you encourage him to.”

“Yeah, but that’s just because he’s shy,” Calum frowns. “It’s probably easier on him to just pick one person to confide in.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Michael waves Calum off and smirks. “Wow, look at you. You’re already so protective of him, and you aren’t even his boyfriend yet.”

“Merlin, Michael, slow down!” Calum gasps, overwhelmed by the thought of maybe someday being Luke’s boyfriend, even more overwhelmed by how badly he’s suddenly realised he wants to be. “Nobody’s said anything thing about boyfriends,” is all he can mumble.

“Do you not want him to be your boyfriend?”

“I mean-”

“Would you rather see him with someone else?”

“No, of course not-”

“Do you want him to be alone forever?”

“Michael-”

“I’m taking that as a ‘no’. So the only valid option is for you to be his boyfriend.”

“Mikey, I don't even know if he likes me like that!” Calum sighs. He hates this, hates how small and vulnerable his voice sounds.

Michael’s hand lands on Calum’s thigh and squeezes gently, reassuringly.

“Talk to him,” he says softly. “Honestly, that’s the best thing for the both of you.”

“That’s easy to say, though.” Calum shakes his head, covering his face with his hands. “If you were in my position, would you do it?”

“If I was in love with my best friend and had even the slightest indication that he felt the same? Absolutely.”

Calum looks up at Michael and sees the surety burning in his green eyes. Michael usually knows what he’s talking about (or at least is good at pretending he does) and Calum decides he might as well trust him because, well, Michael’s never led him wrongly before (that’s a lie but at least he’s never led him wrongly when it really counted).

“Fine.” Calum concedes. “But if this blows up in my face I’m blaming you.”

“I’ll accept that,” Michael shrugs. “But only if you do it soon. The boy isn’t going to wait forever.”

* * *

Calum doesn’t tell Luke.

Well, at least not at the next chance he gets; he has the perfect opportunity at his family’s annual New Year’s party. When it’s time for the countdown, he’s standing on the lawn with Luke after having spent the whole night together, hiding from his parents and dodging all his responsibilities while giggling stupidly. Calum knows it’s the perfect time. He sees Michael on the other side of the lawn, stood with Ashton, giving him an encouraging thumbs-up. He can feel Luke’s arm brushing against his, as they get closer to the New Year.

And then the countdown is up and people are cheering loudly, pulling each other into drunken embraces. Calum thinks about slipping his hand into the soft, gloved one next to him, thinks about leaning in and pressing his lips against Luke’s, thinks about how perfect the moment is. 

But he turns to face Luke and his cowardice takes over. So he forces a smile and says,

“Happy New Year, Lukey.”

And he tells himself that he’s probably (definitely) imagining it when he sees a flash of disappointment in Luke’s eyes. It’s gone in an instant and the blonde boy smiles and returns the greeting. They stand together and watch as the magical fireworks explode and form different shapes in the night sky and Calum thinks of the wasted opportunity and hopes it wasn’t his last. 

* * *

A little over three weeks later, they’re back at school.

It’s the night before Calum’s birthday and the four of them are hidden in the boathouse with (surprise, surprise) some firewhiskey. 

They’ve all had too much to drink and Michael is stood at the front of a canoe, orchestrating the countdown.

“3, 2, 1…Happy birthday, Calum!”

Ashton whoops loudly from where he’s sat in front of Michael, and Luke, next to Calum on the seat, beams and applauds.

“Is someone there?”

The caretaker, Hawk’s voice drifts into the boathouse. He doesn’t sound close but the foursome still freeze in panic.

“Shit,” Michael whisper-shouts. “Guys, duck!”

They all throw themselves onto the floor of the boat, breaths caught in their throats. Calum glances over at Luke, who is twirling his fingers around each other. As their eyes meet, they both burst into a fit of nervous giggling until one of the other two kicks at them warningly. Calum claps a hand over his mouth and Luke bites his lip, somehow managing to look ridiculously cute and stupidly hot at the same time. Calum has to bite on his palm to prevent the frustrated groan that is threatening to escape.

Eventually they hear Hawk’s footfalls grow soft and disappear after a mutter of, “lousy kids” and, when it seems safe enough, they slowly get back up.

“That was close,” Ashton giggles.

“Sure was,” Calum nods in agreement. “Now, where were we?”

“Birthday kiss!” Calum is just in time to brace as Michael dives at him and plants a sloppy wet kiss on the birthday boy’s cheek.

“Ew, gross!” Calum laughs. Michael lingers and Calum hears him whisper,

“I know I’m not the one you were hoping for one from but you’ll just have to make do.”

“Well, maybe if you guys weren’t here I wouldn’t have to make do with anything.” He’s joking. It’s a joke. He isn’t seriously expecting a birthday kiss, and certainly not from Luke. He knows that Michael knows he’s joking but the red-haired boy grins mischievously and quirks an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah?”

“No, Mikey, I didn’t mean-”

Michael fakes a loud yawn.

“Oh, look at that.” He stretches exaggeratedly, nearly hitting Calum in the head. “I’m fucking knackered. Ashton, will you be an amazing friend and walk me back to the dungeon?”

“Why don't you just walk back with Calum?” Ashton frowns innocently.

“No, Calum’s the birthday boy; wouldn’t wanna cut short his celebrations.”

There’s an obvious lilt in Michael’s voice that gives away exactly what sort of celebrations he expects Calum to be having and Calum is glad he’s got the cover of his firewhiskey-induced flush to hide his embarrassment one.

“Then get Luke to walk you back,” Ashton whines, somehow still oblivious to Michael’s suggestiveness.

“But I need someone big and strong to protect me from Peeves.”

“But I don’t wanna go yet-”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Michael leaps to his feet. “Just fucking walk with me, you wank job.”

Ashton pulls a face but gets himself upright, staggering slightly.

“Fine! Let’s go. Happy birthday, Cal.” He storms unsteadily out of the boathouse, muttering something about not knowing why he puts up with Michael, the red-haired boy in tow with a roll of his eyes.

“What’s wrong with our friends?” Luke asks, shaking his head as he watches the other two leave. Calum giggles.

“No idea. But I’m kinda glad they’re gone.” He freezes, realising the implications of his words. He’s about to backpedal when Luke smiles sheepishly and says,

“Me too.”

Spurred on by Luke’s agreeing and probably also the excess of firewhiskey in his system, Calum continues with the revelations.

“Don’t tell them, but you’re my favourite of everyone,” he whispers conspiringly, leaning towards the blonde boy. Luke’s eyes grow wide and he giggles behind his hand.

“I doubt Mikey would be too pleased about that,” he jokes.

“Mikey’s not here,” Calum shrugs. “He doesn’t have to know.”

Luke giggles again.

“Well, you’re my favourite too,” he admits. “And Ashton’s my cousin that I’ve known since I was born so I must really like you.”

“You love me.” Calum grins cockily as he swings his leg over the seat they’re on so that he’s now straddling it, facing Luke. The younger boy’s expression softens and he mirrors Calum’s action.

“That I do. A little too much.”

That last part comes out quietly, as if he meant to mutter it under his breath but his volume control failed him. There’s a moment in which they both seem to freeze as the words hang between them and brown eyes lock with blue.

Calum doesn’t know where he manages to get the confidence (thank Merlin for firewhiskey) but he shuffles forward along the seat until his knees bump against Luke’s. The atmosphere has become charged, tense, as if the slightest wrong movement could shatter the entire boathouse into a thousand pieces.

They’re there for what feels like forever and then, as if magnetised by the force of their locked gazes, they begin to lean in. Or, at least, Calum leans in. He can't tell for sure if Luke is actually leaning in or if the firewhiskey is taking its toll on the stability of his vision but it’s too late for him to back out now and there’s no point in doubting himself.

He shuts his eyes and hopes, prays, that Luke wants this too, that they’re on the same page here, that he won't open his eyes and see Luke staring down at him as if he’s lost his mind. Maybe he has lost his mind. There’s nothing particularly normal about wanting to kiss your best friend, much less actually trying to do it. But here he is and he’s going for it and- wait, is that Luke’s breath ghosting over his lips?!

“Who’s there?” comes the shrill cry and suddenly Calum is being shoved off the seat. His shoulder hits the floor of the canoe with a thud and there’s a matching one from Luke’s direction. Calum glances over and Luke has his finger pressed to his lips, eyes wide. “I swear on my life,” they hear Hawk snarl, “if I get my hands on you, you’ll be out before the morning. Just you wait.”

They lie there under the cover of darkness, waiting until they hear the footsteps recede. Calum can't bring himself to meet Luke’s gaze. His stomach is turning with the fear of rejection and also a good deal of disappointment. What if that was his last chance? What if, now that he’s all but told Luke how he feels the blue-eyed boy decides to keep his distance? What if he’s destroyed their dynamic and lost one of his best friends forever?

Just as Calum is about to lose himself to despair (dramatic but true), a hand snakes to the back of his head and Luke gently but firmly pulls him closer, until their foreheads are pressed against each other’s. When Calum finally chances to lift his gaze, Luke’s lips curve into a small smile and his blue eyes seem ablaze with something that Calum can't quite identify, but it ignites a positive feeling in him and maybe, maybe all hope is not lost.

* * *

Calum turns on the taps of the massive tub in the prefects’ bathroom on the sixth floor and sits back. He’s had a long afternoon of quidditch training in preparation for their next match and he aches absolutely everywhere. He’s been daydreaming of nothing more than soaking in this tub until his skin goes wrinkly and absolutely nothing is going to get in the way of that.

Suddenly, the door opens and Calum whips around to tell whomever it is to leave but he stops short.

“Luke?”

“Oh! Hey Cal.” Luke’s cheeks burn bright red as the door closes behind him. “Didn’t realise you were in here. Door must be faulty or something because it shouldn’t have let me in if it’s occupied…”

Calum lets his eyes scan Luke. The blonde boy is still in his school robes, except they’re absolutely filthy.

“What happened to you?” Calum asks. Luke looks down at himself.

“Helped out with Herbology club,” he replies. “And then with Creatures club. Kid brought in twin baby short-snouts. Don’t think they were too happy to be away from their mum.”

“Clearly not,” Calum snorts. Luke chuckles quietly.

“Anyway, uh, I guess I’ll go and…come back later. Or something.”

“You could join me.” The offer is made before Calum realises what he’s saying. There’s a brief pause in which the boys lock gazes and the air becomes thick with tension. In an attempt to dispel some of it, Calum waggles his eyebrows. Luke bursts into laughter and shakes his head fondly.

“You’re ridiculous,” he mutters. Calum shrugs. The thing is, he’s had the idea and now it won't go away.

“Well, I mean, it is curfew pretty soon,” he says. “And I don't plan on getting out of the tub until the last minute. And you clearly need a bath.” He adds the last part jokingly, trying not to seem as keen as he unfortunately is.

“I could use one of the regular bathrooms-”

“But then you wouldn’t be able to soak.” Calum can hear how eager he sounds and cringes, disguising it as a shrug. “Whatever, man. Your choice.”

He turns away from Luke and strips off his quidditch robes. Calum’s fairly sure he can feel the blonde boy’s gaze burning into his back, although that could just be his inflated ego giving him what he wants. Either way he’s not about to risk turning around to check, not sure if he’ll be able to handle either of the situations (for very different reasons). 

Calum slides into the tub and lets out a groan of contentment as hot water immediately begins to relax his muscles. He isn’t playing it up at all. He most definitely is not trying to get Luke all hot and bothered (unless it’s working). Calum lets his eyelids fall shut, until he hears footsteps padding around to the other side of the tub and his eyes fly open because he didn’t actually think Luke was going to agree.

Blue eyes meet brown and a small smirk is playing at Luke’s lips in contrast with the very prominent flush of his cheeks and neck. He begins to undo his robes.

“Wait, you’re actually coming in?” Calum can’t believe this is happening.

“Well,” Luke’s hands pause and he frowns anxiously. “I mean- wait, fuck, you were joking weren’t you?”

“No,” Calum practically yells and goddammit why is he being so embarrassingly obvious? “I mean kinda with the whole-” he repeats the eyebrow waggling. “But, yeah, join. I don't mind.” He most definitely does not mind.

“Okay. Well, uh, could you…” Luke trails off with a shy smile. Calum gets it and submerges himself underwater. The taps are still on and the water is rushing violently around his head. It sort of feels a lot like what’s going on _inside_ his head right now.

When Calum resurfaces, he reaches behind him and turns off the taps. Luke is sat inside the tub, peering curiously at him and absent-mindedly swirling his hands in the colourful bath foam. His flush has spread down to his chest, just below his collarbones, and Calum can't tell if it’s from the heat of the steaming bath water or…well. Their current situation.

“So.” Calum clears his throat awkwardly, breaking the thick silence. Luke giggles nervously and Calum can’t help but smile and join in, and soon they’re both laughing for no apparent reason.

When they finally calm down, Luke is the one that gets the conversation going.

“So, quidditch practice?”

“Yup!” Calum confirms. Luke smirks.

“Good. You guys are gonna need all the practice you can get in before you play us.”

“You wish!” Calum laughs. “We could beat you guys in our sleep.”

“Oh, really? Then why are you practicing so much that you’re sore all over?”

“I’ll make you sore all over.”

Calum doesn’t know why he said that. It barely even made sense. There’s a billion other comebacks he could have thrown that would have fit better but, no, he had to say that. He also doesn’t know why, though he had tried to say it threateningly, it had come out far more suggestively. Luke seems to have gone impossibly redder, sliding further down into the water. But he’s biting at the corner of his bottom lip and it looks like he’s trying not to smile so Calum thinks he hasn’t completely screwed up.

* * *

“So, what’s the protocol in situations like this? Like, as friends of both sides, who are we supposed to support?” Michael takes a bite of his toast and motions lazily between Calum and Luke. 

It’s match day and this time around, Calum is far more excited than nervous. Himself and Luke have been playfully antagonising each other all week and, more often than not, the banter between them has veered cheekier than usual, touching on something that feels borderline flirtatious. Calum has been eating it up.

“You’re obviously supporting me,” Calum replies. “Especially you, Mikey. Seeing as I’m playing for your house too.”

Michael shrugs.

“I supported the Puffs this game last year.”

Calum pretends to be scandalised.

“How could you betray me like that? 10 years I’ve known you-”

“To be fair,” Ashton butts in, “you were stuck in detention with me that day for those dungbombs we set off in Hawk’s office. It’s not like you were there for him to support.”

Calum does remember that. He also remembers spending the entire time grumbling about how unfairly harsh the punishment was. Although, in hindsight, it wasn’t like he didn’t know detention was the pretty standard penalty for getting caught. He was probably just upset about missing the match. Or, more specifically, missing the match against Luke.

“Yeah, well I’m here now so that gives you two reasons to be loyal to your house.”

“Okay, but if you get Mikey, I get Ash,” Luke says, nudging Calum slightly.

“Of course you get me, I’m your cousin!” Ashton laughs.

“Too bad he knows and cares fuck all about quidditch,” Calum points out.

“Hey, I care!”

“No you don't, Ash,” Michael interjects. “You can barely differentiate between the balls.”

“I can barely differentiate between your balls,” Ashton shoots back. They all freeze for a moment. “Wait, that came out wrong…”

And then they all burst into laughter. Calum clutches his stomach as he laughs along. But when he feels Luke grip his shoulder and rest his head on it, it’s not his hand that causes the tightening in his stomach. He glances towards the blonde boy, who lifts his sparkling gaze to meet his eyes, cheeks dimpling with laughter and Calum’s own laughter settles into a smile.

A few hours later, Calum is in the air. The match has been going on for a while now. It’s a good game – fast paced and keeping the crowd entertained – but he’s not really paying attention. He knows Slytherin are winning (he’s not that awful a captain to not even know the match status) and they’re building up a bit of a lead against Hufflepuff, although not a big enough one that the snitch couldn’t still turn things around. 

Calum should be more focused, he knows. Instead, he’s making faces at Luke as they circle in the sky. Luke, at least, is making somewhat of an effort to find the little golden ball but keeps getting distracted by Calum’s shenanigans (Calum’s favourite is when he bluffs and pretends to have spotted the snitch and Luke’s eyes widen momentarily before he realises and rolls his eyes).

Calum steers his broom upwards to a position where he can get a clear view of the entire pitch. He watches as his chasers perfectly execute a practiced play and smiles approvingly.

“Lucky shot!”

Calum looks up and sees Luke hovering barely two metres away from him, teasing grin on his face.

“You wish!” Calum laughs. “Face it – we’re just the better team.”

Luke opens his mouth to reply but stops short, eyes sliding off Calum’s face and a little to his right. Calum knows what that expression means, has seen it on many opponents.

Sure enough, when Calum follows Luke’s gaze, the snitch flutters into his line of sight, bright and glimmering in the rare sunshine. Calum briefly glances back at Luke and, when their eyes meet, they both smirk as they acknowledge the challenge. 

And then Calum is whizzing through the sky in chase of the tiny ball that dances a meter from him. It isn’t long until he hears the familiar whoosh of another mounted broomstick flying near him and a quick glance back confirms that Luke is indeed tailing him. Calum grins and turns his focus back to the snitch, eyes narrowing as he attempts to close in on it.

A bludger comes flying straight at Calum, forcing him to dip down to avoid it. By the time he gets back on track, the incident has allowed Luke to gain some distance on him and Calum finds himself playing catch up. Within a matter of minutes, he’s side by side with Luke and they’ve closed down the gap with the snitch to so small that it’s within arms reach.

Calum reaches out. His fingers are so close that he can feel the almost ticklish beats of the ball’s wings. Luke’s arm is out too. Calum momentarily loses focus as he notices how close his and Luke’s hands are. He could easily reach slightly and entwine their fingers, and suddenly he wants to. He wants to see the contrast of their skin against each other, wants to feel Luke’s hand in his, soft yet calloused at the same time. He wants that tingly feeling that he used to never let himself feel whenever he touched Luke, but would most definitely let himself feel now. It’s strange and random, not to mention completely inappropriate timing, but he can’t help what he wants.

He doesn’t do it, though, and is snapped out of his trance by a sickening crunch and a pained cry and Luke’s outstretched arm retracting. Calum whips back to see if Luke is okay, only to find the blonde boy hurtling towards the ground, his broom nowhere in sight.

Immediately, all thoughts of the snitch are gone and Calum grips his broom tightly and nosedives towards his falling friend. He’s vaguely aware of crowd’s noise level rising, but in that moment all Calum can pay attention to is the panic-stricken look on Luke’s face and how quickly he’s approaching the ground.

Calum gets to Luke when the blonde is about two metres from the ground. Without thinking, he dives off his broom and lunges for Luke, wrapping his arms around the younger boy and making sure not to land on him. They hit the ground and roll with an uproar of dust around them. Somewhere in the distance, Calum hears the whistle blow. He scrambles to check Luke.

“Hey,” he grabs Luke’s face. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“My arm,” Luke gasps. “It was hit by a bludger. I think it’s broken.”

Calum looks down. Sure enough, Luke’s left arm is bent at an unnatural angle and the sleeve of his quidditch robes is soaking with blood. Calum is fairly sure his breakfast is trying to come up.

“Holy shit,” Calum mutters, pressing one hand to his mouth.

“Is it bad?” Luke asks. Before Calum can reply, there’s a hand on his shoulder, shaking gently but firmly. He looks up to see the concerned face of the referee, Madame Faye.

“What’s happened to him?” she asks.

“He was hit by a bludger and now his arm’s probably broken,” Calum explains. Faye nods and is about to speak again when she’s interrupted.

“Oi!” Calum turns around just in time to see Jamie come to a halt next to them, still on his broom. “What d’you think you’re doing? Get back in the air, Hood!”

“Merlin, Lancer, he’s hurt- ”

“So? People get hurt all the time. That doesn’t mean the match ends. Get back on your broom and catch the fucking snitch!”

Calum opens his mouth to tell Jamie to fuck off and stop trying to play captain but Faye squeezes his shoulder.

“He’s right. The match can't end until you catch the snitch.” She meets his eye sympathetically. “I suggest you hurry up and do that so you can go check on your friend as soon as possible.”

Calum nods and turns back but Luke is already being helped off the pitch. Ignoring the dull pain in his shoulder, Calum walks over to his broom and climbs on it, taking back to the air.

* * *

The match is over within the next hour but Calum doesn’t stay to celebrate the win. As soon as he gets the chance, he sprints to the hospital wing. When he gets there, he finds Michael and Ashton stood outside the large doors, along with the rest of the Hufflepuff team. A few of them cast dirty looks at Calum but he doesn’t care right now.

“How is he?” Calum pants. “How bad is it? Why’re you guys all out here?”

“He’s fine,” Michael reassures, placing a hand on Calum’s shoulder. “Or at least he will be. He’s kind of in shock. We just have to wait for them to administer the treatment. He’ll be allowed visitors in a bit.”

Calum nods and accepts that. But, as his worry ebbs, it’s replaced with anger.

“If I’m not back before they let us in, come get me from the dungeon,” he tells Michael. The older boy nods.

Calum strides briskly to the dungeon. As he crosses the castle, his anger continues to grow inside his chest, swelling until he has to clench his fists to keep from lashing out.

As soon as he steps into the Slytherin common room he’s faced with a group that consists of the team and other house members and, right at the centre, Jamie.

“Hey! Lancer!”  Calum yells. They all turn to face him.

“Hey, captain!” Jamie grins. “Great catch.”

“What the hell was that with the bludger?” Calum demands.

“What?” Jamie rolls his eyes. “I’m a beater, bro. That’s literally what I’m on the team to do.”

“You didn’t have to send it our way! I was about to catch the snitch. I had it under control. You didn’t need to get involved.”

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t read fucking your mind! It looked too close to call so I did my job. Did it well, might I add, considering you're not the one who fell from the sky.” A few of the others laugh at that. Calum isn’t impressed.

“Yeah, go on, joke about it. His arm is fucking broken, you prick!”

“Dude, it’s not that big a deal! People break shit all the time playing quidditch.” Jamie shrugs. This, Calum must admit, is a fair point. It’s not his fault if he’s just excessively worried about Luke, who means so much to him. Calum is about to concede when Jamie continues. “Besides, I don't know why you’re so riled up about that mudblood anyway.”

The room falls silent. There’s a quiet gasp from somewhere within the group. Calum’s blood feels like it freezes.

“What. The fuck. Did you just call him?” His voice sounds foreign to his own ears. It’s cold and clipped, fury brimming just below the surface. It’s a stark contrast to his usual warm, relaxed tone. Jamie seems to notice the difference and there’s a flash of distress behind his eyes as he swallows. But, he’s a Slytherin and his pride gets the better of him.

“What? Mudblood? And what of it?” He challenges, squaring his shoulders. Calum’s hands are balled up in fists and he’s prepared to throw the first blow, rage like a pot boiling over. But just as he begins to draw his fist back, he hears his name being called.

“Calum!”

He spins around and sees Michael stood at the entrance with wide eyes.

“Yeah?” Calum replies through gritted teeth.

“They’re letting us see Luke now.”

At those words, Calum’s anger falls away and he’s filled with thoughts of only Luke. He’s about to rush out when Jamie calls at him.

“Hood! Are we done here?”

Calum turns back to face him. Where previously he’d been filled with rage and disgust, all he feels now is cold indifference.

“Yes,” he replies calmly. “You’re suspended indefinitely from the team.”

Ignoring the older boy’s subsequent protests, Calum marches out of the common room and breaks into a jog, Michael following behind.

As they approach the hospital wing, they pass the Hufflepuff team, who have clearly just left, for which Calum is grateful as it means they’ll get Luke to themselves. Slipping into the large chamber, Calum spots Luke in a bed near the back with Ashton sat by his side and his arm in a brace. He rushes over to the bed.

“Luke, are you okay?” Calum asks frantically.

“M’fine,” Luke laughs weakly. “Just a little sore. Much better than I was an hour ago.”

Calum breathes a sigh of relief, collapsing into the unoccupied chair next to the bed.

“Merlin, Lucas, you scared the shit out of me!”

Luke pouts.

“It’s not like I chose to get hit by that bludger! It’s Lancer’s fault, not mine.”

“Yeah, I know.” Calum says through gritted teeth. “That’s why I suspended the bastard from the team.”

Luke’s eyes widen.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he says quietly, lowering his eyes from Calum’s face. He looks so small and self-effacing that Calum feels a squeeze in his heart.

“Hey,” he says softly, taking Luke’s available hand in both of his own. “Yeah, I did. I could never let someone hurt you and get away with it.”

Luke looks up at Calum with surprise in his big blue eyes and, really, Calum can't blame him. It’s probably the most upfront Calum has ever been about his feelings directly to the boy’s face. Calum resists the urge to make a joke, say something to lighten the weight of his statement, despite how exposed he feels.

“We’ll just be waiting outside, okay?”

It’s then that Calum remembers that they’re in fact not alone. He turns around and sees Michael fighting a grin, a knowing look in his eyes and his hand on Ashton’s shoulder. The oldest boy is staring wide-eyed between the youngest two, mouth slightly agape, and Calum figures he’s finally seen what Michael seems to have known all along.

“Yeah, okay,” Calum nods. He sends Michael a look that he knows the other boy will recognise as gratitude. Michael replies by quirking an eyebrow and squeezing Ashton’s shoulder, urging him to stand up.

Once they leave, Calum turns back to face Luke, very much aware of the blonde boy’s cold hand still between his warm ones. Luke is chewing on his lower lip, his eyebrows pulling together in a tiny frown. Calum almost laughs at how adorable he looks. But he can tell Luke wouldn’t appreciate that.

“What’s wrong, Lukey?” he asks instead. Luke’s frown deepens as he considers how to answer. Eventually, he sighs and says,

“You mean a lot to me, Cal.”

Calum’s stomach flips.

“You mean a lot to me too,” he admits. Luke shakes his head.

“No, like, you mean a lot to me.”

“I get it, Luke,” Calum insists, squeezing Luke’s hand tighter in an attempt to convey his feelings for the boy. “And you mean a lot to me too.”

“Do you get it, though?” Luke extracts his hand from Calum’s to run them through his mussed up quiff frustratedly. “Because I’m pretty sure I mean a lot to you in the same way that Ashton means a lot to you. Whereas you mean a lot to me in the way that-” Luke pauses and searches for an example. In the end, he gives up and looks at Calum with the sincerest expression on his face. “-No one. There’s no one I can think of that has ever meant to me what you do.”

Calum doesn’t know what to say. He’s never been great at talking about his emotions and has no idea where to start, what words will convince Luke that he’s never felt for anybody else the way he feels for him. He’s never spent as much time wanting to hold somebody’s hand, or cuddle them close, or make a fool of himself just to see the way their cheeks dimple when they smile. 

He doesn’t know how to tell Luke any of this. So he doesn’t tell him.

Instead, he kisses him. 

It’s a messy kiss, awkwardly angled because Calum didn’t really think it through and Luke’s braced arm is in between them. Also, Luke is completely unprepared for it so kind of flinches away (which is fair enough considering the force with which Calum lunges at him) meaning that Calum only catches half of his mouth. There’s a good three seconds that Calum spends with his mouth pressed hard against Luke’s, neither of them moving.

But then Luke shifts his head and their lips slot together nicely and Calum’s brain whirs into action. He cups Luke’s face in his hands, pressing down harder into the kiss, delighting in the small gasp that leaves Luke’s mouth. It doesn’t take long for Luke to respond and kiss Calum back, leaning up to meet the older boy. He runs his tongue along Calum’s bottom lip and Calum groans quietly, pressing his body down harder.

Unfortunately, he’s forgotten about Luke’s injury, of which he’s reminded when the younger boy winces in pain. As soon as he realises, Calum jumps away.

“Fuck, I’m so sorry, I forgot, I didn’t mean to hurt you-” he rambles.

“It’s fine,” Luke laughs breathlessly. “Like I said, just a little sore.”

“Serves you right for that display of immodesty!”

They both turn to see the apparently unimpressed countenance of the nurse, Madam Mallory. She’s stood with her arms folded tightly across her chest and is scowling at them, but the tight corners of her pursed lips give away her withheld amusement. The two boys glance at each other and smile sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Calum says awkwardly, taking a step away from the bed. “I’ll leave and let him get better.” Luke makes a small, displeased sound and both Calum and Madam Mallory laugh.

“Fortunately for you both, he’s fully healed. You can both go. But that’s going to be slightly sore for a couple more hours. So, take it easy.” She gives Luke a knowing look and he blushes bright red right from the tips of his ears down to his neck. He mumbles his thanks as she magics his brace off and he rubs at his healed arm, smiling up at Calum who can't help but smile back.

Two minutes later, they walk out of the hospital wing hand in hand and find Michael and Ashton waiting as promised. Michael raises and eyebrow questioningly and, in reply, Calum turns and catches Luke’s mouth in a kiss that the blonde returns immediately, slipping his arms around Calum’s waist.

“This is so fucking weird,” Ashton whines but he’s giggling and it makes Luke giggle into Calum’s mouth before he pulls away slightly, but not too far, smiling at the other boy.

“Glad you guys got your shit together,” Michael snorts. Calum slips his hand around the back of Luke’s neck, pulling him gently so he can press their foreheads together.

“Yeah, so am I.”

 


	2. Epilogue

“It’s not fair.”

Calum chuckles as Luke mumbles into the crook of his neck where the younger boy has tucked himself into comfortably.

They’re stood just outside the entrance hall, Calum with his back against the wall and Luke leaning against him, Calum’s arms draped loosely around the younger boy’s waist.

“Aww, poor little Lukey,” Michael teases. “You’re too young to apparate. Guess you’ll just have to wait until next year!”

Luke flips the now blue-haired boy off without bothering to detach himself from Calum and they all laugh.

“Hey, don’t worry about it, Lukey,” Ashton says. “You’re better off waiting. You get way more practice in and are so much more likely to pass on your first go. In fact, these guys will probably be back taking it with you next year.”

“Well, maybe,” Michael shrugs. “But then again, this is coming from a guy who failed two of his NEWTs and has to repeat his last year. Are you really gonna trust what he says?”

“Hey!” Ashton cries. Luke and Calum laugh.

“He has got a point, Ash,” Luke giggles.

“Wow!” Ashton places a hand over his heart in mock offense. “That’s so rude! And here I was trying to make you feel better about this whole thing. Fine. Let’s see who defends next time Mikey’s taking the piss out of you.”

“I’ve got Calum to defend me.” Luke lifts his face and smiles up at Calum and the dark-haired boy can’t resist the urge to lean down and press a soft kiss to the blonde’s lips.

“Ugh.” Calum can practically hear Michael’s eye-roll. “Ash, let’s get out of here before they start full-on fucking.”

This time it’s Calum that flips Michael off just as Ashton says,

“Yeah, I’m with you on that.”

“Mikey, I’ll see you in there, yeah?” Calum looks up to confirm.

“Yeah, yeah,” Michael waves a hand lazily in reply and Calum turns his attention back to Luke.

“You should go soon. Don’t want to be late for Potions,” he murmurs. The blonde goes back to pouting.

“It’s not fair,” he repeats.

“No,” Calum laughs. “But just think all the cool places I’ll be able to take us once I get my license!”

Luke considers that for a second.

“Go on. Entertain me.”

“Well,” Calum begins. “We could go to the beach, or to that Muggle theme park you love so much-” Luke’s eyes light up at that “-or like. All the awkward situations we can avoid…”

Luke shudders and turns bright red and Calum is sure he’s remembering all the times they’ve been caught in at least semi-compromising positions. There have been a fair few of them in the year they’ve been together.

“Yeah, okay, you definitely need to pass this.” Luke stands up straight with a grimace on his face. Calum laughs fondly and slips his hand round the back of Luke’s neck, pulling the slightly taller boy down into a kiss. Luke grabs onto Calum’s waist to steady himself as he eagerly kisses back. 

“I need to go,” Luke gasps, breaking the kiss. Calum nods and smirks.

“Don’t wanna walk into Potions looking all fucked out when there’ll only be, like, four of you in there.”

Luke makes a face.

“No I really don’t. Leveloff would give me shit about it the entire time. It’s not like she doesn’t already find any excuse to give me shit about you.”

“She just wants to make sure you’re a suitable contender for her captain,” Calum teases. Luke raises an eyebrow.

“Are there other contenders?”

Calum rolls his eyes in reply and slips his hand into Luke’s, leading him into the entrance hall. There’s a throng of sixth year students and the few seventh years that were either too young or failed the test last year. Before attempting to squeeze through the mass of bodies to find Michael, Calum turns back to Luke.

“Come find me when you get back?” the blonde asks.

“Yup,” Calum nods. Luke smiles.

“Good luck, Cal.”

This time, in reply, Calum pulls his boyfriend in for a kiss.

“Thanks, Lukey. I love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! So yeah! If you're reading this, you've probably read the whole fic and I am very much extremely grateful for that, so, thank you!
> 
> This is probably the longest fic I'll write because I'm a lazy poop and uni life is hard. But maybe it won't be. Who knows. We'll see!
> 
> As always, comments would be very much appreciated but, you know, whatever you want.
> 
> Thanks again and I love you!


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